Port Lemons

I'm such a mean Mom!

2011-08-02T07:26:00.000-07:00

We have a new puppy and we talked about it before we got her that EVERYONE was going to have to help....well Jacob wanted her sooooo badly that he said he would do it ALL. Of course we haven't made him do it all, but we did assign him the poopper scooper job. I am in the office and I can hear them outside laughing and saying how GROSS this is....it's so funny! Rileigh is saying EEEWWW!!! they have shovels and a wheel barrow. Rileigh just came in and said 'hey mom, I evened picked up poop!' They are talking things out and working as a team.

Finally Some Adult Time...ZIP-LINE!!!!!

2011-06-28T12:29:00.000-07:00

After seeing Mike with the height of the ferrous wheel...I thought my chances of zip-lining were slim to none...but he sucked it up and away we went! First you suit up and they give you a whole 3 minute talk and up up up up up the 90 stairs you went on the first tower. You go the first a bit more blind then the rest. After we got to the second tower, they told you how to TRY to steer, but really that's just for laughs, you pretty much just go.......I happen to end up backwards every time. Mike did a little better with the steering then me. Our room was right in front of tower #4, so poppy snapped a few pictures for us and Jacob and Rileigh was able to see us land and take off once. There were a total 6 toweres and took about 45 minutes. AWESOME!!!

American Girl

2011-06-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

We woke up in Chicago and gave Rileigh her birthday gift early; Kanani, the Hawaiian doll of the year. American Girl Store in Chicago! It's every doll lovers dream come true and is a destination it self! We arrived about 9:30 am and your mind and eyes go into over load. Displays are every where! There are displays of all of the dolls in every outfit that they have, displays of life size rooms for them and then also the doll size rooms. Upstairs was like a main street shopping area with shops,a salon, bakery, hospital, and bistro. We had Kanani's ear's pierced at the salon and while we waited for her, we shopped. Little girl clothes, pets, and doll outfits galore! We lucked out and were there on the day that they launched new products, so it was the first time that we had seen some things....like Kanani's party dress and ukulele....which we just had to bring home :) We did try to control our selves, but it was hard to resist the cuteness and we bought more then we should have! Pictures tell more then 1,000 words in this case, but shhhhh!!! It's our little secret!

Chicago....Look Out

2011-06-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

Well we arrived in Chicago right on time...for the traffic :( So, after 3 hours in the car, we made it to Navy Pier...and as soon as we stepped foot on the pavement, RAIN!!! Are you kidding me? Thank goodness it was a quick shower and didn't ruin our evening. Navy Pier is simply beautiful! Very similar to our Inner Harbor. First we looked around inside then ate at Harry Carey's Baseball Bar & Grill. Then outside to do the ferrous wheel. Wow is Mike afraid of heights!! He made it though, but did the happy dance when his feet hit the stationary ground! Jacob and Rileigh lucked out and rode twice, once with Mike and I and once with Mom-Mom and Poppy. The skyline was amazing from up there!

Are you looking at me?

2011-06-25T20:51:00.000-07:00

We visited a family farm today and I tell you the cows were just as courious about us as we were them. One stood half way out of the barn peaking at us, one followed Jacob and Rileigh around and the others just watched us....the same as we were watching them.

the window are down again today!

2011-06-16T16:54:00.000-07:00

So, I have this awesome little mirror attached to my rear view mirror that allows me to see the back seat at a glance. We're headed to wal*mart today and I don't see anyone in that little mirror....so I turn around and see Rileigh with her head darn near out the window smiling and enjoying the wind the way a dog would enjoy the wind. Imagine her leaned forward, face directly into the wind, her hair flowing behind her and a big smile! She does always say when she grows up her car is not going to have a roof!

Jacob and Rileigh are SOOOO Different!

2011-06-15T17:54:00.000-07:00

With the beautiful weather today, I had the windows down, the sunroof open, and Zac Brown Band playing on the radio....wahoooo!!! Rileigh has her hands in the air and says "Mom, this is AWESOME, it's like a roller coaster"...........Jacob on the other hand has his hands over his eyes and says "can you at least roll up my window!?!?!"

"Mommy, how does a baby get into your belly?"

2011-06-13T16:26:00.000-07:00

Well..........Rileigh..........ummm....let's see........ummmmmm, well.....when an adult girl and an adult boy fall in love and get married they have so much love for each other that their love makes a baby grow.....And with that she walked away....but then she came back to ask "mom, why did you grow 2 kids? and ms. Alisa growed 4 and pop pop Marks mom grew at least 3....and at this moment she is sitting there staring at me......yup...still there....still there...shew she finally left! So, there you have it....love grows babies! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

The thing about having 2 children.........

2011-06-13T05:27:00.000-07:00

is that when you want them to share they WON'T, but when you don't want them to share they DO! Rileigh now has the funk that Jacob had last week :( Jacob is back to his normal self, so hopefully Rileigh will bounce back just as quickly.

On another note, we've got Rileigh all signed up for soccer for this fall. She has been the one asking for it forever and this is the first year that she's old enough. However she will be 'double dipping'. Soccer is late Aug-Oct and dance will be late Sept-May......and Jacob will probably be doing fall baseball. Holy Moly! We do enjoy the sports, so while it will be crazy, we love it! Sign ups for sports always sneak up on me. You have to be a planner, the cut off for soccer sign ups is June 15th for the fall, dance will have sign ups in July for Sept and at this point I don't know when baseball is........summer camp sign ups start in February for some....it's crazy!

lemon # 233 or something like that

2011-06-11T07:52:00.000-07:00

We got up on a nice relaxing Saturday morning, watched Gnomeo & Juliet, then decided to go for a swim before showers. They had fun in the pool for about 2 hours then we headed in for showers.....Jacob done, now Rileigh...just as we were finishing up her hair I noticed a big black BUG!!!! RILEIGH STAND UP!!! finished rinsing her got her out and let the BUG go DOWN THE DRAIN!!! GROSS!! So, the worst part is that when I was combing her hair, there was a trace of blood in her ear canal..........OMG do you think that BUG was in her ear biting her??!!! Simply GROSS!!

Now let's see what the rest of the day has to bring!

I'm Back!

2011-06-09T17:46:00.000-07:00

Besides keeping my wonderful family and friends up to date......the purpose of this blog was to help me remember life's little moments or the lemons that life throws my way. So with that said, I am going to do my best to post something each week or more often...depending on the amount of lemons that are delivered to my door. I just hope that if the house fills with lemons someone might visit me with a BIG bottle of vodka to enjoy those lemons with me!

The lemon of the day was needing to pick up Jacob from school :( Rileigh had been looking forward to having a friend over to go swimming for a week! So, they finally get here right on time, but if I had to hear when are they getting here one more time.....well you know. We were swimming and my cell phone rings and it was the school telling me that Jacob had a slight fever and needed to be picked up. All I could think was 'damn, Rileigh is going to cry like a baby when I tell her I have to go', but THANKFULLY the mother of her friend could see my panic and offered to stay and watch them while I picked up Jacob. THANK YOU!!! So, I brought Jacob home got him set up with a sprite and the baseball game and went back out to the pool for just a little while and finished the playdate. After they left, we went to patient first and he had a fever of 102.9 and a slight ear infection....but no one can explain why he keeps complaining about a belly ache. Target for medicine and home to cook some quick dinner, put away the groceries that I bought at target to save myself a trip tomorrow and now finally crash. I did let Jacob ride in the cart at target and wow is he getting big!! It was a chore to get him in, push him, and a chore to get his 61 lbs 4'3" self out of the cart!

Too Funny

2010-08-12T18:19:00.000-07:00

Today while Jacob was at camp, I let Rileigh play with Jacob's trucks and cars that he left out in his room...........well boy oh boy was he MADDDDD!! He said a whole lot, like Mom I can't believe you let her do this..blah blah blah...but the funny one was to Rileigh "I'm so mad I could eat you" Rileigh's response "Jacob, you know you won't be hungry until it's dinner time". I had to leave the room!

Another Repair!!!

2010-06-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

I don't think I'll ever get a new kitchen! The well pump went kaput!! $1,700.00 and the nice man in the wife beater t-shirt said "you won't want to take a shower or wash clothes here for a few days............about all you'll want to do with the water is flush the commode"........Well, Thanks!! Hope to NOT see you for another 10 years!

Here's a cute Pic

2010-05-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

T-Ball

2010-04-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

Pictures say 1,000 words...............LOOK HOW FREAKING CUTE!!!!

I get a new tooth and Jacob loses his 2nd

2010-04-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

Jacob lost his 2nd bottom front tooth tonight right after dinner. He's too funny about it. He was ready to go to bed so the tooth fairy would come at 6:30.

New tooth :)

2010-04-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

Well you all know everything I do is an adventure. And the old saying 'everything happens for a reason'....true oh so true!

Getting a new tooth is of course no different! I started the process about 1 month ago. Went and had a whitening session done, then a week later, they do all of the impressions and color matching, then another appointment for the prep, and then one last one.........or so we thought. The dentist wasn't quite happy with how my new tooth looked and asked if I minded going to the lab for custom shading and some reshaping, well no I don't mind!!! It's my FRONT tooth and I'll probably wear it for 8-10 years!! Well the deal for that is that I had to go to bel air for the dentist to take off the temporary tooth then drive to the lab........in Rosedale........big old greek guy (who was the owner of the lab) hung out with me for 3 hours, painting the color on my tooth while it was in my mouth!! Then reshaped it and fired it and I was off to the dentist in bel air again. 45 minutes there and here I am!!! I do believe that this is the BEST my smile has ever been!!!

So, 100.9 miles in one day and with travel time 8 hours later I have a new smile :)

The every thing happens for a reason come in with.........Jacob puking Sunday night into Monday morning.

I was going to tote Rileigh along with me, because they didn't think it would be more then 2 hours, but THANK goodness that Jacob was sick and Mike came home to watch them, so that I didn't have to change my appointments. Rileigh would have been a little bear with all of that waiting!

Easter

2010-04-04T18:07:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day............after we had the 'YOU'RE WEARING THAT SHIRT/DRESS' argument.

Rileigh woke up first and didn't really put it together that the Easter bunny was here last night. Then Jacob woke up and down we went. The bunny shed his tail all over the floor and Jacob wanted every piece!! They were very patience and looked every thing in their baskets one thing at a time. Then we ate candy and had the clothes argument! Jacob was in his room for over 20 minutes with real tears about a shirt that was hanging out for him to see what he was wearing for over a week. He HATES shirts with a collar! He wore it for church and pictures...........so, next year remind me to NOT buy him nice clothes!! I guess it really is just born into them. Rileigh has loved shoes since she was an infant!

They enjoyed church and then everyone coming and paying so much attention to them and an egg hunt and more sports then any adult could handle.........then waffles for dinner..........because the I hate my shirt/dress kids that I have don't really like holiday food...........then baths and books and BED!

Rileigh at one point around dinner time, said "May I have a popcicle?" I said sure, if you eat 2 chicken nuggets......she said "no, I really didn't want one" and ran away!

Shew!!!

2010-03-28T17:31:00.000-07:00

Rileigh was SOOOO excited to see the Easter Bunny!! Jacob not so much. He said I'll look from here..........however; I said "if you don't sit on his lap, I won't have a picture to remember it by".....And WOW it worked........."oh, okay mom".

Jacob has finally lost his first loose tooth!! It's been loose for about 3 weeks and today was the day! And boy did he wail!!! Then he said it felt funny. And he went to bed 20 minutes early so the tooth fairy would come!

Who DID IT!!!!!

2010-03-18T17:55:00.000-07:00

Just who taught my child "pull my finger"!!!!

We're riding home from swim lessons and Jacob toots.........and then says "Hey Rileigh, pull my finger........keep pulling.......it's not all out yet"..........Really!?!?! I just shook my head!!! But really some one needs to fess up and fix it!!! GROSS!!!!

How do these days happen??

2010-02-28T17:36:00.000-08:00

Here is my schedule for Tuesday:
Get up and get 3 people dressed fed breakfast and then...
8:15 Jacob to bus stop
COFFEE
8:40 Drive Rileigh to school
9:00 be at Jacob's school to volunteer
11:30 Pick up Rileigh
DIET COKE
11:45 Lunch playdate with new friend
mid afternoon: Gargage door repair
I might need some more COFFEE
5pm: Dinner
6-7pm Math games at Jacob's School
Maybe some more diet coke
7:00 Bible Study
8:00 Bed time

I hope I survive.............so I can make it to the rest of the week

Ballet
Swim lessons

Who's sick of snow????

2010-02-08T18:53:00.000-08:00

Not us!!! We're having fun!

A Litte Birdie came to visit

2010-02-08T18:41:00.000-08:00

Jacob says to Rileigh "Hey you want to go and take out the trash?!?!?!" Rileigh "Yes hehehehehe Let's go!!!" So they get the big can with the handle from the laundry room and empty all of the smaller cans in 3 bathrooms, both of their bedrooms, and the basement....laughing all the way. Jacob opens the kitchen door to the garage to empty the big can into the outside garbage can and as soon as he opens the door our little feathered friend flew right in! Mike grabbed a butterfly net and caught him after he took a tour of the house and we locked him in our bedroom upstairs.

There's no messing around here!

2010-02-07T09:45:00.000-08:00

Here's how we clear the snow in these parts :)

Almost there!!!!!

2010-02-05T17:57:00.000-08:00

I'm just too excited to wait until the room is 100% done, but I/we are sooooo close!!

I am 1 bin short of having the closet completely organized. Ran out of bins!
I have 1 bin left to go through to see what is actually worth keeping.
I have done at least 100 trips up and down the stairs......so I should have buns of steel!!! Key word was should :)

So we are close....oh so close!!!

I should just keep on the happy notes, but I do have to tell you how we got the computer desk upstairs.............

Do you all remember back in the summer when the router went bad??? Remember I could hardly move the computer desk to get to the wires?? It weighs a TON!!! I just know it's a TON!!! However Mike estimates 300 pounds.

Mike brought home a furniture dolly from work to move the desk....I was expecting him to bring home John from work to help...NO John, just Dolly!! So, you guessed it, I had to help him. After a small discussion of how I didn't think I could handle it, I found myself under and I mean UNDER the computer desk on the stairs with my snow boots on (they were the closest) heaving that desk up, just enough for Mike to get it up 1 step at a time. I just knew I was going to be crushed...I did survive....I will survive!!! Not quite in tact, the same shoulder ache is back, the same one that I had with the router problem, just not quite as bad. But as you can see, it is worth it.

I also have hooked up and unhooked the internet and router a couple of times to get the furniture placement. And mike had to move it downstairs twice. I actually did it with much success until I mistakenly reset the router instead of the modem....that one push of a button cost me a 45 min phone call with the 'local' foreigner at linksys.

Yeah!!! I won't know what to do with my time when it's done??? Yeah right...I don't know how we got it done!! We didn't paint until Jacob and Rileigh were in bed! Just a few finishing touches and that bin issue!! The first project to be completed in my new room will be a message board :)

An Adventure

2010-01-30T17:02:00.001-08:00

Well as you know most things I do end up a bit complicated.....turning the guest room into an office/craft room is no different.

We got LUCKY and sold the bedroom furniture that was in the room in 2 days!!! The guy who bought it lived 10 minutes from here, so I had Mike take it to him since the guy didn't have a truck. 2 trips over there.

So I had money to spend on the new room, so I packed up the troops and went to Ikea. Now the whole way down there I told them about the GREAT play area and they were on board with that. What a wonderful thing they have going!!! For 1 and 1/2 hours they'll keep your potty trained child while you shop....I know exactly why; just so you'll spend more money, but hey you can actually think straight while you shop, so it's a win/win situation. My troops were up for it.....WOW!!! They lasted 35 minutes but that was long enough for me to brainstorm and I was ready to commit! Me?!?!? Someone who takes 5 years to put up curtains.....I was ready in 35 minutes!!! Well of course there was a glitch! So, I fell in love with this room and wanted to make it mine! I thought that they had put up a curtain panel on the wall.........after I shopped with the troops in tow.........I found out that I was WRONG! The fabric is sold by the yard and is not in curtain form! I mean I found all of the green bins that fit my need and fit into the cubby holder that I have pushed around the entire store up and down both floors and actually got the furniture onto the cart with the help of the troops. Okay we've been here for 3 hours........let's go home!

So, I get the cubby bin into my truck.......which right on the box says "2 man lift 72 lbs" WOW........I think I might actually be 35 years old!!! That was a bit tough! And the desk and all of those carefully picked out bins!

So, I have this sewing machine that has been staring me in the face for 18 months or so.......the fabric's only $7.99 per yard......maybe I could make panels...after all it's only a straight line to sew right??...Don't worry I came to my senses!!! I called Kathleen! So we meet at Ikea in White Marsh. I show her the room with the fabric and litterly she shouts "HOLY CRAP" but being the good friend that she is, she still agrees to make the curtains, so we go to get it and there is only a scrap left!!! So, more than just me fell in love with this crazy fabric! Isn't there another store?? Yes, there is....College Park and they have plenty. "Well, what are you doing the rest of the day?" Going to College Park! We bought the fabric, had a pretty good lunch and was back in White Marsh by 2! Wahoo!!!!!!!!!!

New Computer

2010-01-18T18:21:00.000-08:00

I finally broke down and bought a new computer.....and I mean BROKE down.....

I had a sort of love affair with my computer.....it holds OVER 10,000 pictures, 3,000 songs, and 600 emails........And now all I have is a blank slate that in 60 days the Microsoft office suite just goes away.........

This new computer is Awesome...don't get me wrong!!! My pictures look 1,000 times better and wow is it fast!! Windows 7 is great and really easy to use so far!....But figuring out just how to get 'my stuff' from one computer to another is a ball game that I just haven't figured out how to play yet!

For my birthday I received an external hard drive that I thought would make the whole transferring thing easy......Nope!!! I spent a whole evening with no success :( I'll make the phone call for help tomorrow...I wonder what country the help center might be located in???

And just to add to the fun...I changed my email address...I really just had so much junk mail that it was insane. So that was my challenge tonight. I sent all of the emails that I still felt the need to hoard and I did make all kinds of little folders so that they were not just all sitting in my in box like before. Photos, file Cabinet, RMEF...now I'll be racking my brain on where to put the email and then where the heck did I put it???

The New Toothbrush.......adults ONLY

2009-12-31T06:54:00.000-08:00

It was the year of the toothbrush.......there were lots to go around.

Mike and I recieved a 2 pack and it happened to have 2 chargers, so I put one in his bathroom and one in mine. We let them charge. I went to just try mine out; wasn't really time to brush, but it was new and I wanted to give it a try.........well HOLY MOLY!!! That thing is nothing like my old one; my old one was about 15 years old and you couldn't buy replacement heads for it any more. The old one was more like a spinbrush. The new one felt like you should have taken out your teeth before usuing the brush on them.........then I made the mistake of taking the tooth brush out of my mouth while it was still on.........WOOOOOO the mirror, the wall, sink, and Me were all splattered in white little toothpaste specks in about 3 seconds before I shoved the toothbrush back into my mouth to contain it and figure out how to turn it off.........Now it's in my mouth and I can't see the control to figure out to turn it off. So I press the button and it goes even faster...you have to go through the cycle or hit it 3 times to turn it off.

Now I didn't think to share my experience with Mike until later in the day. Mike was in the bathroom......I didn't think anything of it. He comes out and says "WOW that toothbrush is like a vibrator for your mouth"

I do have to say that my teeth look and feel 100 times better!!! I do actually love my new toothbrush. And I think Mike does to.

An Honry Ballerina

2009-12-19T15:28:00.000-08:00

How to decorate your tree ;)

2009-12-19T15:20:00.000-08:00

Items needed: 1. Candy Canes 2. Ornaments 3. Half eaten candy cane..........

Wow we've been busy...

2009-12-16T15:57:00.001-08:00

I know its been too long since I've posted!!! So, let's get you up to date.

Today was my last day of work! I was thinking shew.........I really don't know where I found the time to actually get it done. Mike actually asked me if I was going to be board???? Are YOU KIDDING ME!!! Then as I was on the house phone, my cell phone was ringing and it was the VFW asking me if I would like to work 1 night a week......I'm just not meant to be completely unemployed :) I haven't answered them just yet though.

On the 5th we celebrated my mom's 21st anniversary of her 39th birthday........which was a fabulous party. Everyone worked hard and made it seem effortless, but I know it was hard work and she really did enjoy it!

Rileigh had her 1st ballet recital today and it was just too darn cute. There are only 4 girls in her class and they all tried their best. Rileigh is the youngest....but also the tallest :)

Last night we had the BEST holiday party EVER!!!! Santa gave 12 kids and 11 adults a visit and looked over the kids making food for the reindeer, then read them a story, ate dinner with them and then let them all sit on his lap and have their picture taken with him. Mrs. Claus handed out Snowman soup as they finished with Santa...... It was simply amazing to have the house so quiet with 12 kids all sitting on the floor listening to the story. And they were all so cute with him!!!!

I signed up to volunteer at Jacob school and they have actually asked me to come every Tuesday from 9-11....... a little more then I expected, but it's AWESOME!! I hope to work in the school system some where when Rileigh goes to Kindergarten, so I couldn't ask for a better way to gain experience. Or maybe I'll sit at home and actually do their baby books :)

We also paid a visit to Baltimore's very own 34th street. It changes a bit each year or I notice different things each year.....who knows, but we do always enjoy it.

I guess that's it for now.........

Rileigh is 100% little GIRL!!

2009-11-08T17:59:00.000-08:00

We took Rileigh to get her ears pierced today and WOW did we have our hands full as soon as we walked into the store!!! I want these earrings, wow; look at this necklace.....she loved everything in that store!!

Now I did warn her that getting your ears pierced hurts.....boy oh boy did she wail!!! It was too cute! She wouldn't even look at her pretty new earrings that she picked out..........they are not the ones that her mommy picked for her. She is still a bit unsure of what we've done, but she is looking forward to the heart earrings that she picked out in saxon's......yes I did say saxon's....she has been talking about those earrings for over a week now.........did I mention that we have our hands full???

Okay the whole story about the adventure

2009-10-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

Rileigh woke up with the funk. I called our dr.....which I can truthfully say that we have NEVER seen him when we were actually sick; today was no different. No appointments with him, but I could see someone in the office around 3pm. Nope that doesn't work for me. I can't get Jacob off the bus at 2:20 and be in Bel Air by then.

Rileigh and I had an appointment with a parents as teachers Representative at 9:30, so we waited and I did warn her, but she decided to just show us things anyway. I love this program. She'll come once a month with a bag of little activities that are appropriate for Rileigh for us to work on together.

Plan B. Let's go to Patient First. We left as soon as the lady left about 10:15, get to patient first.........no where to park!!! So, I park in a handicap and run it to access the place...........Oh Heck no!! We're not staying here. At least a 2 hour wait according to the nice lady and most of the people there were wearing the little paper mask....that are really a joke, so I figured we would be sick as dogs if we stayed there.

Plan C. Urgent care in the festival. Not nearly as crowded, but not nearly as nice as patient first. We checked in at 11:20 and didn't leave there until about 1:10.

I opted for the eye ointment instead of the eye drops......because less then 2 weeks ago Rileigh had an outer ear infection complete with drops and no we did not see our regular dr........that was a Sunday morning....anyway the point of that is that Rileigh " I HATE EAR DROPS" flipped out when she heard the word drops. So we stopped at the Rite aid and of course they didn't have what we needed....Then I stopped at some little drug store on the way home, nope; no luck there. By now I have to go home to get Jacob off the bus. So after he gets home, they play for a few minutes and off we go, I figure that I'll go through the drive thru at the wal greens on my way to drop off movies at the library......NOPE; not open the drive thru register is broke, so I had to take the 2 monsters in past all of the flipping candy and toys to the BACK of the store....there is really not a path through the place with out passing something that they like to get their grubby little hands on......30 minute wait, so to the library we go and back into the store again to pick it up. Stop it, don't touch anything, stay with me, stop tossing that baby on the floor, no you can't have that, put that back, don't rub your eyes......

All of that before we even had dinner, homework, baths.....blah blah blah!!

What a day........

2009-10-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

Rileigh woke up with pink eye!!!!!!!!! So, we had an adventure to bel air and then 3 different drug stores..........I'll tell you more later.

On the way, I stopped at the consignment shop where I had the sit and stand stroller to get the money for it and what to my wondering eyes should apear????? OMG look at that..........is it real??? I am 99.9% sure it is. WOW a Tiffany Bracelett!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I finally got my little blue box........it was missing the little white ribbon....but I got me a little blue box!!!!! One day, I'll get a brand new one with the ribbon that was intended for just me, but for a very long time I am going to be HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY with the one that did come my way.......look at the price!!!! $9.53 with tax!!!

OBX

2009-09-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

We did it!! We survived another looooonnnnnnggggg car ride for an awesome vacation.

By far this was the best house of our 3 trips to the outer banks. We stayed in the village of Salvo........however I don't know why it was called a village. I would think to be considered a village, you would need at least one store and maybe a restaurant??? Despite that, I do believe that we had the best beach. We only had 1 other family that we saw often and 1 guy that I wish I would have taken his picture like lilo does......that sight was just too much!! Imagine a mullet, a bushy mustache book reading guy in a tri-folding lounge chair, with a flower beach umbrella all by himself! The shells on this beach were AMAZING!!!! Jacob found a white conch looking shell that was darn near whole and Mike did find a hole welsh? shell...looks like a gray conch.......AND I FOUND MY FIRST PIECE OF GREEN SEA GLASS...and I am COMPLETELY hooked!! I have looked up the best places to find it and my wheels are turning!!! I'm going there!

I did have quite a few 'a ha' moments on this trip. Like I should hand off the camera and get into the pictures a little more often! I'm 35 freaking years old and haven't crossed off nearly enough of my 'to do' list! Do I have a 'to do' list??? I should do more whole family vacations! My niece is flipping 16!!! I'm freaking 35!!! And the list could go on for a MILE!! I have been thinking about it since we got home....Am I where I want/should be??? Will I ever know the answer to that???

And the other CRAZY thing that happened to me that I still just can't believe.........I got sea sick!!! And puked my guts up in a small black bucket with the waves swishing it so much that I was afraid it was going to spill out onto the nice carpet of the fishing boat!!! All the while everyone was catching a fish!! I did catch 1 fish before puking, but I missed taking pictures of all the fish catching and the cute first mate dancing around the boat like a fish with his head cut off trying to keep up with baiting the lines and bringing in the fish! I was freaking puking!!!! I just can't believe it!!!

I feel like a bag lady :)

2009-09-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

We have the following bags:
1. Ballet Bag
2. Soccer Bag
3. Swimming Bag...1 for each
4. Back Pack......1 for each
5. Lunch Bag......1 for each
6. Library Bag
7. Bag Chairs to watch the soccer game.......1 for each of us...totaling 4
8. And finally, my purse

Really now people.......where the heck are we supposed to store all of that c**p!!!

What I would really like to have is a brown bag hiding something fun to drink!!

Here are some pictures of the pool repair

2009-08-31T18:19:00.000-07:00

And Darn the pictures on the last post are backwards.......they start with the end of day at the top.........bummer :)

Wow......where do I start

2009-08-31T17:16:00.000-07:00

We had a heck of a day!! First day of school, pool repair, soccer practice, Pre-school orientation.........

Jacob walked around all morning with his back pack on waiting to go to kindergarten!! We all walked to the bus stop and when the bus came, he didn't look back. He was the first one out of 8 kids to hop on and find a seat!! He didn't even say good bye to me, it was over in a flash! Crazy mom that I am........I was going to head to the school and get a picture of him getting off the bus, but when I noticed the route the bus was taking, I decided to follow, they do a small tour of Cecil County on their way to school. He got on at 8:25 and didn't arrive to school until 8:48!

While all of that was happening, the pool company was here repairing what we thought was a dent of some sort under the liner.........boy were we wrong, it was darn near a sink hole and we were lucky to not loose the liner as well. Our pool hold aprox 20,000 gallons of water......which we had to drain about 12-14,000 of the day before. So, 2 truck loads and our well to fill it back up, we're ready to swim again.

After that Rileigh and I got a bit organized for her Birthday Party and boy was she just out of sorts...."Is Jacob going to eat lunch with us?" "Is Jacob going outside?" and on and on.

Finally we go to the bus stop.....way too early....I forgot to ask what time he would be back!!! Off he comes and he is STARVING!!! He ate 2 bowls of pork stew, 2 cornbread muffins, a cookie, and 2 glasses of milk, all before heading off to soccer practice!

Mike goes to soccer practice with Jacob and I go to pre-school orientation with Rileigh. She can't wait to go, but she is a bit confused about not having the same teacher as last year.

Get home and WOW is Rileigh a bear!!! I had to carry her to the tub kicking and screaming.....some of which you might see in the first day of school pictures for her. While she was squirming to get out of my arms, she scratched her check on my watch!!! BUMMER!!!

While I'm writing this Jacob yelled down the steps......(he's supposed to be sleeping) " I'm not going to Kindergarten 2 days in a row!" Should make for an interesting morning tomorrow :)

I should be drinking, but I just don't have the energy!!!

First Day of School LEMON!!!

2009-08-30T19:33:00.000-07:00

Jacob and I talked last week.........all week about what he was going to wear for the first day of school....

This morning for some reason he asked to wear that excat outfit to church....Really buddy is that what you would like to wear???? YES MOM!!!!!!!! Okay, there really isn't any thing that can happen between here and church....HA!! There was a baptism at the church that we didn't know about, which they had a lovely reception afterwards that all were invited to......complete with red icing on a cake and watermelon........OMG are you kidding me!!!

So, I waited to do the light colored clothes until they were undressed so the laundry would be completey done..........and of course the watermelon all over that shirt didn't come out with the first try! So, here I am at 10:30 washing that shirt for the second time!

Is it the School Fairy.......or just Mom???

2009-08-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

Jacob and Rileigh will hopefully never know. I thought Jacob could use some help getting excited for his first day of Kindergarten........ It was too cute. He came out of his room and saw the tootsie rolls on the floor and said "Mom, look what I found!!!..........was it the school fairy????" He was so cute! He gathered up the tootsie rolls like a little hoarder and found his new back pack and lunch bag at the end of the tootsie roll trail. I asked him to maybe put them back so that Rileigh could find them, so he did. He practically waited outside her door for her to wake up.

An Addition to the Backyard Zoo

2009-08-30T17:27:00.000-07:00

So it's playdate and I go to the kids picnic table to put up the umbrella and think 'WOW' why would a mouse get up on this table???.......and leave poop!! Cleaned it up, put up the little umbrella, never thought about it again. The next day, my Dad says there is a bat in your patio umbrella..........ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!!!! Grab the camera go out what to my wondering eyes should appear......the SAME poop that was on the kids table!!! You mean to tell me I cleaned up BAT poop AND put MY HAND UP INSIDE THE UMBRELLA TO PUT IT UP......WITH OUT LOOKING UNDER IT FIRST!!! So of course after the shock of that wore off, let's get a look see!! Wow it was really cool to see him so close up and sort of in the wild, but he didn't really like me checking him out and he started to move away........so I did toooooo!!

Here are a couple of pictures of summer

2009-08-06T18:47:00.001-07:00

Just so you know.........

2009-08-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

I feel much better after writing that!!!!

I'm sitting by the pool with a beer and my WIRELESS computer.......Where are the prime mates??? Well they are done with swimming! They are behind me in the yard NAKED wating for the zoo keeper to give them a bath!!!

Don't panic.......I type fast :)

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-08-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

let me start by telling you my week.........for the most part. In between the feedings and poop wiping...cleanings at the manthei zoo. Monday was my last night of work at the VFW. My buddy was here swimming and Mike called......can she stay until 6pm..........so back into the house made more meatloaf and bribed her to stay. While I was at work, Rileigh fell asleep at 5:50PM.....so I got home from work at 1am......Rileigh up at 4AM........Should have stayed awake, because when i woke up I felt like someone ripped my shoulder off and taped it back on!!! I'm telling you it hurt to breath!!!! Then some time Tuesday morning the internet became spotty...........sometimes it worked....sometime it didn't. On the phone to the cable company.....reset the modem, seemed to work......NOT!!!! Of course you have to be on the phone while you're doing acrobatics to get to the back of the modem with your pen to reset it. In case you didn't know I have a computer cabinet and ALL OF THE F**** wires are nicely hidden behind it.........it weighs what feels like 2 tons....Remember my shoulder has been taped back on at this point. So after many phone calls; the cable company suggest that I call the router company. OK THEN! 3 Chinse/Indian/non-English speaking calls later.......while holding the phone to my ear, holding a pen to reset it, unplugging and replugging, balancing the laptop on my knee(because the cord was too F***** short) we determined that they would need to call me back in 1 hour to speak to a different dept. WTF!!!!! So I went to bed!!! Then I decided that I would just use the cord........called the cable company to help me, no luck! All of the trying the night before left me unable to connect!!! So, with Mike in a panic that he would have to share his computer........I packed up the zoo and went to Best Buy.....$79.99 later and $2 for each of the prime mates to be good while I spoke to the nice people at best buy.........I'm back home and back on the phone with the non-English speaking d-link people to try to figure out WTF they had me do to my computer!! Reset the ip address...........called the cable people.......reset the modem........now working with a wire, OK ready to hook up this new router........MY GOODNESS WHEN IS THE LAST TIME I'VE BEEN AT THIS DESK????????? It's got more dust then Arizona in a wind storm!! WOW, I'm back to wireless Internet!!! Litterly less then 10 minutes after my success........Mike calls....."who's there?" Just me, Rileigh, and Jacob. "WoW sounds like you have a crew there".........we'll that's exactly what happens when the zookeeper stops working for a few hours!!!! The other thing is that I actally had given up and scheduled someone to come out and install a router.......a little expensive, but really now, some things are just better that way.....Mike says do you relize how much that's going to be over time? Well, yes $50 bucks and then $5 a month.......sounds reasonable to some one who has more cords then best buy to me!!! So I gave in....but on the way to the store, I realized that we're paying Home depot $118 to install blinds.........because well it's just too cheap to pass up! Now that's it's over I'm glad that I did it, because my desk is clean and I won't be paying the $5 bucks a month..........so that's a 6 pack of my choice....right????

In the middle of that mess.........Hanna knocked over the shreader that was FULL!!!! Seriouly did I need that!!!

Just how many things can you do in 1 day??

2009-07-18T20:34:00.000-07:00

And YES I did say one day!

Besides eating and drinking and of course pooping.....with one poop by the pool ICK!!......we got dressed ate breakfast, rode bikes, water balloons, swimming, swinging, shopping, rode bikes, ate grilled cheese, rode big wheels, cooked crabs, caught butterflies, ate crabs and corn, ate Popsicles, campfire complete with smores, told campfire stories, read books by the campfire, baths, read books again, OH MY GOODNESS!!! And I thought today was the weekend!!! A day or two to relax!! STOP laughing......I'm out of energy to laugh with you! I think my family has a touch of Attention Deficit!

Mike turns the big 4 0!!!

2009-06-28T13:33:00.001-07:00

What a beautiful day we had celebrating Mike's birthday with lots of family and friends.

I do want to THANK EVERYONE for all that they did!!!! With out all of our family and friends; such a wonderful party would not have been possible!! Friends loaned us things, friends cooked food, and friends made CAKE!! Then Friends showed up and CELEBRATED!! Mike also recieved WONDERFUL gifts that he was very thankful for!!

The pool was filled to the max, the food table was filled to the max and the coolers were filled to the max.......for a few miniutes and then the trash was filled to the max!

Apperntly we have a zoo in our backyard?

2009-06-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

This summer seems to be all about the animals!!! We found a turtle in our backyard, so we kept him for a while then let him go. We also had the pleasure of checking out a snake strolling though.........and last but not least, we apparently planted a grocery store for a ground hog!

This Blog has gone to the Gorilia's!!

2009-06-26T18:31:00.000-07:00

Well, we have been busy all ready this summer!!! Jacob did a week of zoo camp, which meant the whole family did a week of zoo camp :) He adored it........he walked around the house with his back pack on waiting to leave for hours! While he was at camp, Rileigh got to go to the zoo, the playground, a friends house, and shopping. It was a whirl wind of a week.

The following week we went for a teddy bear picnic on the skip jack Martha Lewis....lots of fun!!! They had children's music playing and read them stories, but the highlight was getting to help put up that GIANT sail.

We took a trip up to the Herr's potato chip factory for their petting zoo day and enjoyed some chips and pretzels. While there we watched a local dance studio put on a little show and Jacob was quite impressed with the break dancers!! Rileigh loved the dance that they did to "hannah tanna".

We finished that week with a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo..........WOW!!! It is a BEAUTIFUL zoo. Lots of shade and FABULOUS exhibits of animals. They had an awesome wishing fountain there as well....it took a few days, but Jacob did tell me what he wished for. He had 3 wishes, well because he had 3 pennies to throw. 1. For Daddy and him to ALWAYS have to mow the grass together 2. For Daddy to not have to work and oh I did one for you too mom.......3. for you to only have to work at home. Too cute!

We are barely keeping up with our crazy schedule.......I did laundry today and Jacob told me "it's a good thing we did laundry, I only have 2 underwares left".

I keep saying don't put the same thing on the back burner every week, switch it up, but that's not working so hot lately! Every thing is done, but half a**ed. However, Jacob and Rileigh are having a blast!!

How's this for a fashion statement??

2009-05-22T19:48:00.001-07:00

Pre-School Graduation

2009-05-22T19:15:00.000-07:00

Today Jacob "Graduated" pre-school. THANK GOODNESS for SUNGLASSES........because I cried like a BIG FAT BABY!!! My shirt was wet from the tears!!! The school really did it up for the graduating class and their families. They played graduation music as the graduates took the little stage. Then they did the pledge of allegiance. After that each child held a picture that they had drawn and said in front of everyone what their favorite thing that they learned was. Jacob's favorite was that he learned about Dinosaurs. For the closing the teacher, Miss Sarah gave each student an award for their special gifts. Jacob's was for being such a good friend to his fellow classmates. Then back to the classroom for Dr. Seuss's 'oh the places we'll go' after the story, they had a little party. Pop Pop Mark and Mom Mom joined us for the festivities which made Jacob's day and we came home for lunch on the deck.

Of Course we had the usual I HATE this shirt conversation. I tried my best to prepare him that he would have to wear a nice shirt by letting him pick out his own shirt all week knowing that on Friday, Mom would get to pick out the shirt. Still wasn't enough.....we still had the YOU'RE WEARING THE SHIRT OR ELSE conversation for 20 minutes before it was actually on. Then Thank goodness a friend of his needed to borrow a polo shirt to look nice for the graduation and it made wearing a polo a smidgen better.

So, now we'll face KINDERGARTEN next year!!! HOLY MOLY!!

Back to the real reason for this blog...Life's lemons

2009-05-07T18:28:00.000-07:00

How insane can life actually get??? So, we started in January to do some home improvements and of course while the rest of life is spinning out of control; Mom in the hospital, wedding last week; RAIN, let's add some more! The contractor called and is ready to work. All the while I feel like I can't keep up on a regular day anyway :) Rileigh has WAY MORE energy then I do!

So, today he came at 8am, and while I don't blame him for not bringing a helper for 20 miniutes, I had to leave for a Dr's appointment at 8:45, we had to get this HUGE cabinet into the living room with only the 2 of us and we actually recruited Jacob to help! Jacob held the rope, opened the door, and pulled the dollie out while we lifted. You should have seen his little proud face :) That done, off to the dr's, then off to the library where we came home and they both went straight to time out. Once they were let loose, I spent the day asking them to leave Mr. Paul alone and GET out of the way!! Then Mr. Paul and I figured out that we would need to fix the floor some how........so at 3:30pm I was off to Lowes. Get there and only 1 car cart left!!! Damn it, it only has one steering wheel! So in we go with pouty face and screaming from the one that didn't get a steering wheel. One heck of a shopping trip later we're off to "Chick a blae" as Rileigh calls it for a crappy dinner and it was actually just what my little monsters needed. To play and eat and sit some where other then their house. So any way, we made it through one more day!!

So I still haven't started my work for the week. Maybe tomorrow :)

2009-05-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

Here Comes the Bride......

2009-05-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

Look what a GREAT couple!!! Tomorrow's the big day! I'm packed up like we're moving out!! Clothes, makeup, bra, snacks, toys, movie, the list goes on and on...camera, camcorder....I never did get a chance to practice my makeup, so I'll wing it, but really it won't matter because you all know that I'll be crying like a big fat baby!!!!

Let's Go Swimming!!!

2009-04-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning the ducks were taking a swim!!! I'm about ready myself, completly ready to get rid of the winter funk!!!

Here she is AFTER the Birthday Party..

2009-04-19T19:39:00.001-07:00

We spent the day at our friend Tyler's birthday party and when I say the day, I mean the day. We were there from 1-5:30pm!! And even still Jacob and Rileigh were fussing........"I DON'T WANNA GO HOME" Rileigh even said that she was sleeping there!

This should make you smile :)

2009-04-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

Just look at the look on Rileigh's face and then glance down at the caption on her bib!!! It say's "Are these people really my relatives?"

Are you really letting HER do THAT????

2009-04-13T18:19:00.001-07:00

MOMMMMM!!! Look at her!! Here is our Easter cake....it's supposed to look like a sunflower. We didn't really need an Easter cake, but I have been wanting to experiment with decorating a cake. I am detirmined/crazy/disilliosional....that I Jennifer am going to make Jacob a homemade birthday cake and cupcakes for his party!!! I am after all a full time mom and I wouldn't slack at a paying job..... Keep an eye open in May when I'm flipping out about it!!

Brandywine Zoo

2009-04-13T17:22:00.001-07:00

Let me just start by saying that if you blink twice......well you've missed it. I did expect a small zoo, but we arrived at 10:50 am and we saw every animal there was to see (except the monkey house) at 11:15.....so we had lunch....done by 11:30! So off to the monkey house...10 minutes. Luckily the children didn't notice and were excited by plan B.....the park in Glasgow, which I will not go to by myself, because if you blink twice there, you have lost 2 children!!!

My New Motto!

2009-04-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

Live your life each day so that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil shudders and says "Oh no, she's awake!"

2009-03-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

Shew, some much needed adult time! And can you believe that after a bull and oyster roast......on the way home I stopped at Micky D's for a gross cheeseburger. I had lunch when we got there at 1pm, and some oysters, but then I filled the afternoon with Miller lite and apple pucker and forgot to eat again!!........or was it the munchies at 5pm????

SANTA!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

This is Rileigh when our friend Santa walks any where near her :) For at least the first.......oh, 3 hours, then she asks for a baby. And the mean mommy just stands there and takes her picture!

YUCK!!!

2009-02-26T06:51:00.001-08:00

So about 1:30 am Rileigh is screaming I'm all messy, I pooped, MOMMMMMY, I get her in the bathroom to find that she has diarrhea get her undressed and cleaned up, try to put her back into her bed which by some MIRACLE is not covered in poo, she is having NO parts of that she is going to my bed with or with out me, I put her in where Mike usually is, but is not; because he is sleeping soundly a few states away, go to get back into my side of the bed to discover Jacob sound asleep.....When the heck did he get here???? So I ended up sleeping in the middle then putting Rileigh back about an hour after that. Jacob is coughing, so I never thought to look at his bed, go to put him back into his room and discover that he has puked on the pillow and sheets and his pj's........that he was wearing in my bed. Just when you think you can't do anymore, you'll find yourself doing all of the sheets and covers in the house. Luckily, half of the spare room bed was empty. I did say half the rest is covered in clothes that no longer fit the 2 monsters that were sleeping in my bed. I don't think anyone told me about the amount of clothes that kids go through in their little life times. AND YES Rileigh is one pair of pj's short.....the poopie ones went straight into the garbage.....SHEW!!!

Oreo's

2009-02-24T19:27:00.000-08:00

Just how do you eat an oreo??? Well if you're Rileigh you only eat the cream out of the middle and feed the rest to the dog and then ask your Mom for more!

Just shy of 2 and 1/2 Rileigh is giving us a run for our money!! We let her pick out what pj's she would like to wear, but every night when I check on her she is always wearing a different pair and she has put the others back in her drawer.

Purple

2009-01-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

We celebrated my brother's birthday during the big ravens game, so me being the brilliant mom saw the coolest cake/cupcake tray at Food lion for us to use for Jeff's birthday cake.........Purple/White Go Ravens!

No the purple DID NOT come out of her white shirt, but she had a blast eating it!! Jacob joined in the fun with the white one.

Baby it's cold outside

2009-01-27T12:03:00.000-08:00

I wish that I could post all of the pictures from the snow this morning, You would be able to see Rileigh taking her gloves off, touching the snow and then screaming that it was a mess. They did have a blast and Jacob was such a good brother pushing her down the hill in her sled, then helping get the sled back up the hill and then using her for target practice for his "snow fight". Rileigh didn't seem to mind getting hit with the snow ball.......it was the mess that it made on her coat that she was pissed about.

I just can't seem to catch up.........

2009-01-17T06:12:00.000-08:00

litterly I just put the last Christmas toy away in Rileigh's closet and had to slam the door shut so it wouldn't fall on my head :)

That's the one thing on my list for the new year (that's all ready over 2 weeks old) is to clean out the closets. It will probably take me the whole year and by the time I'm done, the one I started with will need cleaning again.

My part time jobs have turned into almost full time. They are trying to revamp the vfw, so there have been meeting about how to drum up business and then the data entry job has been being audited so that's been nuts as well. Then there is my real job; Jacob and Rileigh. Rileigh potty training, and Jacob started swim lessons which I think will be a big help in the summer. He was a bit unsure, but after the second one he's more comfortable.

I hope everyone is having a great new year!

Tinker Bells........

2008-12-23T18:00:00.000-08:00

Tinker Bells.....Tinker Bells.........jingle all the way....

That's what we heard from the back seat tonight while we went through the light display at herr's. That would be Rileigh's version of jingle bells.

Just too darn funny!

Good old friends

2008-12-23T07:01:00.001-08:00

We went to a GREAT holiday party on Saturday evening!! Just wanted to share the picture!

Just how many Santa's are there?

2008-12-23T06:53:00.000-08:00

Well after the third Santa we finally got a picture that's a keeper!! We were at a loss this year because our friend Santa is just way too far away for us to go see. They saw Santa at their school, and then another at the VFW and then finally we broke down and took them to the mall yesturday to see yet another, but that's when I finally got the best picture. Boy did we have awesome timing!! We went in and were 4th in line and breezed right through and Santa took his time with them and I snapped off 5 or 6 pictures, they didn't even bug us to take a picture for us to buy, then we went down to Hollister for gift cards, came back through and the line was wrapped around the whole Santa display! Shew!!!!

Toilet Paper.....

2008-12-15T21:32:00.000-08:00

Well over the summer I was AMAZED/SHOCKED at the amount of toilet paper that I went through....and as most of you know I am a Chatty Kathy and while talking about that little piece of trivia in my life someone suggested to put the paper the other way on the holder. So I did and OMG it really and truely has worked. I like the paper over the top, but switching it to I guess that you would call it under?...has really and truely cut down on the times I need to change the roll. I only did this experiment on the powder room, but at this point, I'm going full force and changing all of the rolls!!! I'll keep you updated :)

Party Weekend..........

2008-12-14T16:22:00.000-08:00

Shew!!! It's Sunday evening and with it being dark early, I can trick Jacob and Rileigh into bed early :) We started the weekend with breakfast with Santa at the pre-school and they ate 2 donuts and shopped for their grand parents with help from an elf and had their picture taken with Santa and made a Christmas card all in less then 25 minutes. Then we were off to the VFW where we had a hot dog and chips for lunch and saw the magician "nothing up my sleeve" Rileigh was FRONT row..........Jacob was out of there!!! He went to the bar with Pop Pop to get as far away as he possibly could. He didn't even know what to expect, but he didn't care, he was gone!! So, I coned him back in at the end of the show and he finally went up to get his balloon. Rileigh was even turned into a bunny rabbit during the show. Then came Santa. Santa brought a remote control dump truck for Jacob and a really cute dress up outfit for Rileigh.....well she wanted to know where her baby was that she told the other Santa at pre-school. Jacob's truck was SCREWED to the box!!! I just can't wait to see all tools we'll need on Christmas day just to get the toys out of the stupid boxes!!!

Then Sunday was a holiday party at our house. 8 kids 4 adults........HOLY MOLY they out numbered us!! It went pretty well, I was/am just tired. They made reindeer food for Ruldolph and the gang to put out on Christmas eve, then they painted a holiday picture. The girls had princesses and the boys Mickey Mouse. Then pizza, cupcakes and free play. They went up to their rooms with their friends for the first time and they did pretty well. The girls love the doll house and 1 boy layed in the middle of all of the trucks and never seemed to move and the other 2 boys were every kind of rescue/super hero they could think of.

Of course I cleaned the bathroom off the kitchen and every time I looked someone was in the one I didn't clean. It had the "lived in" look. It just wasn't party clean. So, now that everyone is gone, I finally had some time and cleaned the bathroom, started the laundry, put the stupid deer in the front yard back together for the 20th time, hooked up a new tv, and last but not least, put the bows on the garland on the front porch.............all of which I would have loved to of had done before the party, but what the heck, I'll enjoy all of the work myself :) I was too busy partying Saturday, trying to buy slip covers for the living room to cover the hole in the love seat, trying to hook up the pool cover pump that broke in the middle of all of that rain.......so that's a whole story in itself!!! You'll love that one!! So, I go out to put the pump on the pool cover. Can't find the stupid hose..........find another, full of cob webs and spiders, hook it to the pump, pull out the extension cord........DAMN the gate to the pool is locked!! Get the key unlock the gate....oh the other gate is NOT locked, oh well, put the pump on the pool cover and the hose looses tension..........YUP you guessed it. It broke in 2. Go in try to super glue it, go back out into the rain and try to hook it up.....no luck. So in the FREEZING water, I tried to hold the hose to the pump to at least get it started, because it would have at least got the hose started and would have slowly syphoned the water off. Nope that didn't work either, just gave me a sneak peak at what frost bite might feel like. By now the cover has about 8 inches of water on top and I'm getting desperate, so I try to syphon the water off. NOW REALLY STOP LAUGHING!!! AND NO IT DIDN'T WORK. And yes all of that was done in the monsoon of rain we had.

And in the mist of all of this, we're potty training Rileigh. During the party, I saw her at the top of the steps naked with a turd hanging out!!!! And another mom running as fast as she could to get away!! So, when you think you life has gone to the birds, just remember that sight!! She is actually doing pretty well, we going full force only pull ups during nap and at night, it's big girl panties all the rest of the time.

Well I don't really care what time it is.....I'm off to bed :)

2008-12-08T10:52:00.000-08:00

"Pass it on"

2008-12-08T08:30:00.000-08:00

The Rocky Mountain Elf...I mean Elk Foundation constructed a shipping crate/parade float for the North East Christmas Parade. We had a blast building the float and walking in the parade. Our Chapter head honcho was bugeling down main street. I think that the kids would have like to watch better, but they made the most of it. Jacob had jingle bells and jingled all the way and THANK GOD for lolli-pops!! It was a bit close to nap time for Rileigh, so lolli-pops saved the day.

LOOK at Rileigh........dressed in camo!!! And of course a little pink to complete the look!

1st Fa La La............

2008-12-01T16:54:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I received our disney picture cd in the mail........(they give you a "photopass" and when there is one of their photographers there, they scan your photopass and then you can buy the pictures that they have taken). So, I create a Christmas card on wal mart's photo site, really cute and boy I'm way ahead of the game.......pack up Jacob and Rileigh in the rain to go and get them, open them up and look at them.........they are just as I pictured..........OH NO WAIT.....I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!! I SPELLED MICHAEL WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!! So, back home I go to reorder them........They didn't make me pay for them which makes me love wal mart better then target more and more every time I get above and beyond customer service like that....did I mention that they printed 40 cards!

As you can see.......

2008-11-30T18:47:00.000-08:00

I finally am getting caught up on life.......until I panic about Christmas!!!

I just yesturday unpacked the last two bags from our trip. My computer bag and the bag of tricks to help keep Jacob and Rileigh busy in the car.

I have NO idea what to get people for Christmas this year.....including Jacob and Rileigh. I went out with the thousnds of people for Black Friday and didn't put a dent in the list. So, I'm thinking gift cards.........BORING!! I'm open for suggestions!

2008-11-30T18:04:00.000-08:00

Better late then never......

2008-11-30T16:45:00.000-08:00

at least that's what I say :)

I even going to cheat a bit. I wanted to share our vacation with everyone, but haven't had enough time to write about it, so I'm cheating, yes I'm taking the easy road on this trip....and I'm going to feel good about just getting the post off of my to do list!!!

I can say that the good memories out weigh the bad, but Disney is not.....I repeat Disney is not a vacation, it is life in hpyerdrive.........especially with children.

I know that I work from home, but I do some what remember that in the work force that special projects give bonus checks or overtime compensation.........I haven't seen a bonus or overtime pay for this special project called Disney, but I do have about 6 great pictures out of 700........yes I did say 700!!

As most of you know I suffer from CRS....Can't Remember Squat. So, when I remembered that I wanted to remember my trip, I wrote a short paragraph of what we did that day.......so that I wouldn't forget our vacation. And we were with out Internet for most of the trip. So, here are my paragraphs of how we spent our days :) When you read them as I have just re-read them........you will see that I really and truely do suffer from CRS!!!!

Nov 10th
We started out the day at the Polynesian resort for breakfast at the Ohana with Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto. Lilo was the big hit with Rileigh. Jacob loved them all. It was a family style breakfast complete with Mickey waffles………..Rileigh didn’t eat a single bite, but we talked the waitress into a container of fruit loops to go for her. All of the kids got to go on a parade through the restaurant with maracas lead by Lilo and the rest of the characters joined in with the rest of us. Before we went in to the restaurant, we took a family picture…….one of Disney’s sucker punches, but of course I bought it. I couldn’t help but think it may be the best picture of the entire trip. I’ll let you know if I’m right on Sunday 

Then we were off to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. If you ever go there, get the fast pass for the new Pixar Buzz and Woody ride………we got a fast pass at 11am and we were to return at 7pm……………needless to say we missed that ride and also any character greetings due to horrendous lines. If you were to wait in line for the buzz and woody ride, it would have been 90 minutes. I can’t handle 15 minutes with Rileigh in line 

We did Playhouse Disney first and they absolute LOVED it …..Rileigh kept saying “Wook” “Wook” and all we saw from Jacob were smiles. Then we went to Beauty and the Beast, again a big hit with Rileigh, then off to have some snacks.

Nov 11th

Wow we were busy today!! We started off on a butterfly walk and caught 2, then we stopped at the play ground then we went to check out the pool and beach. Poppy dropped the butterflies in the lake, so we rented a 4 person swan paddle boat to rescue the butterflies. We also took some time to feed the fish….which we later swim with ;) We walked back to the condo to change into our swim suits and headed back to the lake and pool. The pool is heated and felt better then bath water………however the lake……..not so much. Burrrrr it was cold, but it had to be done, waiting out in the lake was a GIANT trampoline that I …….I mean Jacob had to try out. Wow that was a job to get on, but well worth it. After Rileigh saw us, she had to get on so Mike had to endure the cold water as well to get her out there, but what fun we had. Then back to the pool to warm up. Mike and I shared a ‘voodoo bucket’ and we had lunch poolside. Jacob and Rileigh played in the sand and kiddie pool before we headed back to the condo to get ready for the “Very Merry Christmas Party” at Magic Kingdom.

Crystal Place for dinner……….expensive, but nice. Then off to watch the parade and enjoy complementary hot cocoa and cookies. Then a Christmas show, buzz ride and 2 sessions with Stitch to try to get our Christmas photo………just okay, we’ll see what Disney photo pass has to offer before making up our minds.
Nov 12th

With a late start, we headed off to The Magic Kingdom about 9:30. It was a bit rough getting there on the Ferry for some reason, it took about an hour. Once there we headed straight for Dumbo, then Snow White, and Pooh. Then we had a Root beer Float for lunch and then off to Tomorrow land to do the Buzz light-year ride. After two rides on that we went to The Laugh Factory and the put Rileigh up on the big screen as Boo from the movie. Then we headed over to Frontier land and watched the Country Bears, splash mountain twice for Jacob and Mike, but once for me then we had a front row spot for the parade……..which Rileigh loves, she waves hi and blows kisses to all of her favorite characters. Thunder Mountain was next on the list. Jacob said it was a bit scary for little kids, but he said it with a big smile. Then we headed to Toon Town and toured Mickey and Minnie’s house. We toughed out a rain shower and headed back to the truck. We also endured over an hour of Rileigh being Rileigh ;) Plenty of squished pennies along the way.

Nov 13th

Off to Epcot today. We stopped to see a snail on a bench which was really cool. Then off to the park. We headed straight to the Nemo ride then off to the land and went on a boat ride through the greenhouses where they actually use most of the vegetables in the restaurants there. We then watched a movie staring the cast from Lion King about the importance of the earth and taking care of it. We got the fast pass for Soarin and then headed off to Mexico for lunch. While in Mexico, we did Donald’s boat ride and had Donald sign our autograph books. Then back to ride Soarin……Oh my what an awesome ride. You sit in a seat that feels like an airplane seat, complete with seatbelts and then they take you up into a bubble like movie screen so that you are completely surrounded by the scenery and you feel the wind in your face and smell the oranges and evergreens that are in the scenery.

Nov 15th

Off to the trampoline, everyone joined in for a pop in the popcorn pot today. Then we played on the small beach for a little while. Poppy rented a fishing pole and fished while we played. Then we enjoyed the heated pool for one last time before we cleaned up to go to lunch.

We went to downtown Disney to the T-rex café for lunch. No wait, the menu and food was just okay, but the atmosphere was amazing. Our table was in the coral reef complete with fish tanks and a giant octopus hovering over us. After lunch and squishing pennies, Jacob and Rileigh created their very own dinosaurs in the build a dinosaur workshop. Rileigh’s is pink and has a cute Capri outfit and shoes and Jacob’s is sporting a baseball uniform………which he uses his tail for the bat. After that, we went to see a couple of resorts and then decided to head back to the Magic Kingdom for one last ride on Buzz light year. The castle was completely covered in lights and just beautiful. We rode Aladdin’s magic carpets and buzz light year twice then had ice-cream for dinner and headed back home to pack up.

We've been busy beavers!!

2008-11-03T07:48:00.000-08:00

We have done a bunch of fun things since I last posted, so I'll just give a few high lights.

Pumpkin carving........Too much fun, we had about 15 pumpkins carved with a great time had by all. Ms. Jane said it was the first pumpkin she carved, we changed that for her and hope that we'll see her again next year. Rileigh........would rather paint a pumpkin "I don't like it" was her words for the whole time, she wanted no parts of getting ewey and gooey with pumpkin guts and Jacob would have carved anything he could get his grubby little hands on.

Trick or Treating at Herr's potato chip factory was a BLAST!!! Can't wait to do that again next year.........Just one bit of warning DO NOT I repeat DO NOT eat the Pizza flavored chips..........yes they are as gross as they sound and while Jacob and Rileigh were smart enough to not even try them after they smelled them, I wasn't so smart and OMG did they give me the worst heart burn ever!! They did really taste like pizza, but I would recommend just eating pizza :)

Then there was Halloween, I wanted Jacob to be a Knight in shinning armour and Rileigh to be the princess....that's so funny!! Jacob had 3 costumes that we were prepared for, Spiderman, Mr. Incredible, and the Knight........Halloween day: Jacob which costume are you going to wear tonight? "Fire Fighter" WHAT!!! Did I hear that right.........last I looked that wasn't one of the choices! So, Fire Fighter it was.

I hope everyone enjoyed their October as much as we did :)

JC Penny

2008-10-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

Hanna was visiting the dog next door........named Penny. Jacob saw that hanna wasn't in her own yard and said......"Mommy, Hanna isn't in our yard anymore, she's visiting JC Penny next door" LOL, maybe I do shop more then I thought :)

Vegas

2008-10-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the WONDERFUL family and friends we were able to take a break from reality for 5 days!! My Aunts came up on Tuesday evening to watch Jacob and Rileigh, which made it possible to keep them in school and they delivered them to my parents on Friday. My parents kept Rileigh and Mike's parents took Jacob to his soccer game where his Aunt Liz picked him up and kept him until Sunday. They had a blast without their parents!! They got to put stickers on the walls and windows, got to eat pizza, and COMPLETELY enjoyed all of the attention that they got. Rileigh even pooped on the potty while we were gone!!! Jacob has even asked when we were going away again with out him?? Nice to see that we were missed :)

So, how was Vegas????!!!!??!? Let me just start out with we found $1 margaritas!! Thanks to Rachel Ray, we had NY strip steak and shrimp dinners for $7.77!! Our schedules were so screwed up, we didn't eat 3 meals in any 1 day, but I swear we ate and drank every thing that we wanted and I don't think that we spent more then $150 in food and drinks for the whole trip.......I'll let you know for sure when I find a minute to actually think about it.

The highlights of our trip was seeing a comedy show and seeing ELI MATTSON!!! We went to the MGM Grand to see the top 10 of America's Got Talent. We got the tickets the morning of the show and had floor seats!! That's the second time that we got lucky like that, so I'm kind of convinced that it's worth taking a chance like that for the show that you would like to see.

More on Vegas later........I'm still pooped from the trip and trying to keep up with life!!

Friends

2008-10-13T19:35:00.001-07:00

Well I meant to post this last........uh last Wednesday....

I have the best friends going. We were able to pull off a happy hour get together. It came together by all of us being us.....One suggested getting together, I suggested to invite another......and while I dropped the ball on inviting her, the other 2 picked it up, they both made sure that she was invited. Then just by mentioning my birthday, one paid for me, and the other mailed me a gift, and my mom brought me back to the luxury of being a girl........new bras...name brand purse and not to mention that I spent a few hours with great friends; which completely reminded me just how important it is to find a few hours to spend with friends. While our individual lives keep whizzing by, it was as if no time had passed between good friends. It had been way too long since we were able to do a happy hour or girls night, and it wasn't our full crew, but I can tell you that I all ready have the baby sitter lined up for December.......which goes to show that life is whizzing by, that's probably the earliest that the group of us will all be able to get together again.

Wednesday at an ungodly hour we'll be flying to Vegas.......to OMG celebrate our 10 year Wedding Anniversary. We'll be back to our crazy lives on Sunday.

Milburn Orchards

2008-10-05T11:42:00.000-07:00

This morning we enjoyed Milburn Orchards. Jacob and Rileigh "milked a cow", we went on a hayride, and fed the goats. Everyone had a good time.......WOW, almost no fussing!! The only fussing which was kind of deserved is at the end of our morning, we were going to pick our own apples and the baking kind weren't ready, so we decided to go back next weekend and that was too much for Jacob to handle. He said "I'm not baking mine, I'm just eating them how they come" It was a 10lb minimum and with out making something like cobbler, I just can't imagine we would eat 10lbs of them "just as they come" We toughed it out without a stroller and Rileigh was asleep before we left the parking lot.

What a disapointment!!

2008-10-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

The only time that I actually get to watch a show........kind of....is when I work at the VFW. So the crew that hangs out there likes to watch America's Got Talent. Which turned out to be a good thing. I actually fell in love with Eli Mattson and don't you know that he came in second to a flipping Opera singer!!! I just couldn't/can't believe it!!! You have to check him out either on you tube or at guraristudios.com

Where in the heck is my cape........

2008-09-21T17:41:00.000-07:00

I seem to have miss placed my Super Woman cape!!! Does any one know where the HELL to get a new one????? Besides just trying to keep up with life, the stupid bathroom sink is giving me a hard time. There seems to be a piece that just appeared and it's the one that keeps the stopper up.........so I think that's the problem. The garage door doesn't go down right, you have to kind of guide it down.......defeats the purpose of the automatic opener! The mini van wouldn't start, so I had to jump start that, oh the list goes on and on and on.........Soccer practice, Soccer game, pre-school, play dates, speech class, dinner........Should I keep going....finding shoes that fit...changing closets over to an all new season, making a 2 and 4 year old try on clothes from last year....

I used to love shopping/walking around looking, but now UGH!!! It just gets on my nerves!! Jacob and Rileigh both have wide feet, so pretty much GOOD LUCK finding a pair of shoes for them.......especially if you have them with you!! One's kicking his flip flops off knocking down the display and the other is out of the store on the rides.......which are so conviently located just outside of the only freaking kids shoe store in the whole mall!!! Then they both need new wadrobes every freaking season of every year!!

My biggest flustration is that Jacob has NO interest in saying ABC's and only on occasion can he count to ten correctly!! I was so flustrated tonight reading him books that I had to leave the room. He picked 3 books, I read two and asked him to count the B's on the page and he just couldn't/wouldn't make it happen.......so the third book is waiting on his night stand for his reward for counting to ten. It's a really long Toy Story one that has to be read in chapters, so once he count's to ten, he'll get a book mark and we'll start. I know that he knows numbers, he is just being stubborned; I hope!

Tomorrow is yet another day!!!!!! I'll see if I can't find that damn cape!

What the heck.........

2008-09-17T18:22:00.001-07:00

What the heck is wrong with this door!!! Oh, Rileigh, really the bed is a bit more comfy!! Wow, what a little personality! I read her all of those books that she is laying on, put her in her bed......with out the dora socks, covered her with the pink blanket, she blew me kisses and I thought she was set. Oh and as you can see in the picture the light is on.......after of course I turned it off and said good night. She got the dora socks out of the dresser, closed the drawer and got them on her little piggies by herself!! Our little Houdini in action.

I'm a bit busy here

2008-09-07T18:46:00.000-07:00

Big brother, take care of those candles, I'm taking care of some much needed business here!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, only Rileigh would pick her nose while we sang happy birthday to her! It was a beautiful day, awesome food, and many many priceless memories shared with friends and family!

Shew.........

2008-09-02T18:26:00.001-07:00

I'm still alive...in case you were wondering if I fell off the face of the earth :) That may have been fun though.

Well other then being ridiculously busy, dutch wonderland, baseball games, Jacob starting Soccer, my birthday, school shopping (Damn I forgot back packs!) Rileigh being Rileigh; I did some training to do data entry at home. I do believe I've got it down.

The one FUNNY thing that happened to me........at yes both baseball games and yes both times I broke down and used a public toilet....technical difficulty with the automatic flushing toilets!!! Really now did it have to flush BEFORE I was done???... SOAKING my bare butt!!! I honestly had to wipe down my thighs with toilet paper before I pulled up my shorts for fear of looking like a wet myself.

"I'm Gross"

2008-08-12T20:39:00.000-07:00

So, I'm ironing my shorts, because it seems that everything that Rileigh and I own for summer clothes has to be ironed and Rileigh comes in with only her shirt and her diaper. Houdini in action again! So, I say Rileigh "put your pants back on" she says while leaving the room "Jacob ???", I finish ironing my shorts........which for some reason are too freaking tight....I'm putting them on and here comes Rileigh again only this time there is NO DIAPER ON HER LITTLE BEHIND and saying "I'm gross" Yep, you guessed it!! She pooped and proceeded to take off her diaper by herself, put it in the trash can...not in a bag....loose poop all over the trash can, she then went into her white carpeted room....layed down, while laying down, she some how sat on her foot covering that in poop, then of course putting her poopie behind down right on her white carpet! All in the matter of oh about 15 seconds. And because we change her in the same place every time, I left her folded pj's there to wear again tonight and they were covered in poop too. That all took place in less then about 3 miniutes!!! I wonder what would have happend if I tried to iron a whole outfit????

It's a Dog's Life

2008-08-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

I came home from work to find our watch dog........ON BREAK??? Seriously, I used the electric garage door opener to open AND close the garage door, came in with bags, put away the milk and bread, saw the dog, went back out the door to get the camera that I forgot in my truck, back in, and still was able to get the picture! Mind you the dog is NOT allowed on the furniture.......but is like a 3 year old as soon as you're not looking....well you know!

On another note! Bread at the Royal Farms convenient store is $3.29 where it's only $2.00 at wal mart! So, for $84.92, I got a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, an ice cream bar, and 3/4 tank of gas! I just didn't feel hanging the pump up, putting my card back in, putting in my zip code, choosing the 87 octane button and restarting the pump to finish filling up. So, I left with what the pump pre-approved my gas loan for....which was only $75 at a time!!

Secrets.......We NEED one here!!

2008-08-04T08:07:00.000-07:00

This past weekend......I ran away from home!!! No husband...no kids....YEAH!!! The trip started off a bit rocky....2 hours to go about 5 miles made a trip that should have been 2 1/2 hours into 5, but once we reached our destination, all of that was forgotten!! Our friend Ms. Jane was waiting for all of us with "happy hour" in full swing!! Cold beer, yummy appetizers and good friends!! Couldn't ask for much more! We had a great evening! We did receive some bad news at the end of the evening that our friend Jennifer was sick and was facing emergency surgery, so Kathleen had to leave first thing in the morning, our friend Jennifer did receive the surgery and everything seems to be going very well, so we'll keep her in our thoughts and prayers!! Once we got moving Saturday morning, we went shopping and then off to secrets, which I had never been. OMG!!! It's like you step on to some tropical island!! The water could have been a bit more blue for an island, but that doesn't matter once you get to your table in the middle of the water, so your feet stay in the water while you sip on cold beer, listen to great music and watch the sites......which there are defiantly some sights there. However it does get a bit iffy if you have to use the potty :) While treading though the water, a guy turned and spit darn near down my leg and then the bathroom that was pretty clean 3 hours ago.......smells like a septic tank leaking. Secrets is worth the drive!!! We need one right here in our neck of the woods! After secrets, we went to the horse races. The horses line up a gate that is on a modified Cadillac (which the car is a sight in itself) and they are off......We all did pretty well just about breaking even for betting them all evening.....how did we choose our horses :)....color...name...and then we may have checked the odds. It was a great weekend and we hope to do it again next year!!

Think like a 4 year old

2008-07-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

So, apparently I'm not pretty unless I have a ponytail? This morning Jacob just out of the blue says "Mom, you're not pretty". I give the look and he says "well, you don't have a ponytail" Really all you can do is smile and shake your head.

We attempted to go to the library this morning and for some reason it doesn't open until 1pm on Wednesdays, so I was going to try to stick it out and stay in town until it did open. So, we went to the light house and went for a walk and then to McDonald's for lunch. Jacob gets the same meal every time. Plain cheeseburger happy meal and 4 chicken nuggets. Today though they messed up his meal. "Mom my cheeseburger isn't plain........it has meat and cheese on it!" Again, smile and shake your head :)

Butterflies Galore!!!

2008-07-22T18:11:00.000-07:00

I know I all ready 'blogged' about the butterflies, but I just can't believe ALL of the butterflies that we are getting here. At one point this evening, there were FIVE tiger swallowtails on 1 bush at 1 time!!! Along with all the little ones,some skippers, a painted lady, and hummingbird moths. One of the tiger swallowtails looked like he was posing for the camera. Enjoy the pictures :)

Pop Pop Mark bought Rileigh a kiddie pool and boy does she love going "swmin" It's the cutest thing. Today she tried out surfing in her little pool. Jacob is a baseball FANATIC!!!!!!! I must have pitched 6 different games and now he's pretend playing with a splash bomb in the pool! He really does live and breath baseball. But had pop pop not bought that kiddie pool, there wouldn't have been time. It is the first time out at the pool in forever that I didn't have to catch Rileigh 300 times. I actually got in the deep end and swam for a bit!!

WHAT'S THAT SMELL??!!??!?!?!?

2008-07-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, It's time to go in for lunch. OMG, WHAT IS THAT SMELL?!!! Hanna!!! Yes our good old furry friend decided to roll around in some kind of POOP!!!!!!!!!! Back out we go, let's give the dog a bath! First we have to hook up the hose...same old story, turn it on....NO sprayer...turn it back off....put the sprayer on...turn it back on....WHERE THE HECK IS THE DOG!!!!!!!!!! Yes, she had to be lured back into the yard with treats with her brakes on. If you don't have a dog this is something that you have to see in person at least once in your life time. Just imagine being dragged by the collar with all 4 feet sprawled out in every direction but the way you are supposed to be going. Give her a bath with the hose and the suave coconut shampoo that we always use for her beautiful coat. We go in and have lunch while she barks for 30 minutes because she can't understand why a wet dog DOESN'T belong in the house. We go out....yes this is a family affair you know, brush her, so that she might dry faster and we wouldn't have to listen to her bark like a manic and SHEW WEE!!!!!!!!!! She STILL STINKS!!! So, back out to the hose and this time we use lavender Palmolive....this should work.....okay as I'm squirting off the soap from the drive way...turn around and yes our furry friend is rolling around in the grass AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!! If she stinks again.........she will have become an outside dog!!! Keep in mind the visual in this event....Jacob and Rileigh have to both "suit up" in their rain boots and it's only 90+ degrees outside.

Success

2008-07-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

WOW!!!!!!!!!! We planted a butterfly garden and some extra butterfly bushes and all I can say is WOW!!! We actually accomplished something as planned. We had tiger swallowtails, red admirals, skippers, sulfurs, painted ladies, black swallowtails, monarchs, and 2 different types of humming bird moths, and a whole slew of little butterflies.

Over Time

2008-07-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

Vacation is definitely NOT vacation for the adults when you have a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old. It just simply sends your life into over time. We went to Ocean City, MD for 4 days and I can't tell you how exhausted I was every night.

Rileigh is a toddler on hyper drive ALL THE TIME!!! You would think that after 4-5 hours at the beach she would crash from pure exhaustion but NO.......don't even think that she would take a nap and the port a crib, well that's useless.....our little Houdini can get out of that contraption in less time then it takes to get to the bedroom door and close it behind you. EVERY NIGHT I had to take her for a ride....so I'm guessing that we spent $20 in gas to get her to sleep for the 4 nights that we were there and that was at 9:30 or better every night. So, you're thinking that at least we got to sleep in......you're kidding right!!! Up before 7am every morning out of the port a crib and asking for "breafas".

Jacob Finally got in the ocean on the second day...you would think that seeing his 'little' sister in the ocean he would get in. I picked him up and ran in with him kicking and screaming.......and yes I'm sure that there were several people staring at me torturing my kid, but it worked and he fell in love with racing the waves.

I really don't think that the ocean is the draw for them, I think it's the GIANT sand box and all of the "snacks" that they love.

Mike and I looked like a couple of pack mules to spend the day at the beach. 4 chairs, 4 towels, a wagon of toys, blanket (to change diapers on), cooler complete with "snacks" and lunch, umbrella (that no one sat under), diapers, wipes, camera, sunscreen, bug spray, phone, magazine (that was funny!!) and who knows what else. In addition to carrying all of that, we had to carry Rileigh!!! She just wouldn't move!! Even with bribing her with snacks, she just wouldn't walk up the beach! Jacob was supposed to be in charge of the wagon, but that didn't quite work either. The deal with the toys was if you can fit it in the wagon and pull it, it can go. Deal broken.....first steps on the beach. So, we're bent down to pull a child size wagon in addition to all of the other stuff.

42 pictures taken and not one really worth a dime!! Jacob at one point said to me..."Mom, I don't have time to say cheese"!!

Jacob and Rileigh definitely had a vacation, but I think it will take a few days for the adults to recover.

A hunting we will go

2008-07-07T17:58:00.000-07:00

Off we go butterfly hunting. Poppy helped Jacob with his shoes and socks...(look closely at the picture)LOL!! We all ready know that their mommy dresses them funny, but now they are getting help from poppy!! We went to Elkneck State Park today. We're feeling HOT HOT HOT!!! BOOM!!! Holy Moly!!! We could hear them bombing at APG all the way up here! Jacob says "we've got to go NOW!!", he has been freaked out by storms. Luckily last week we actually visited the ordnance museum on the proving grounds, so after I explained that it wasn't thunder we were good to go.

After looking like the butterfly hunting fools that we are, we went to pick up my truck. $326!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on the way home....got to filler her up....$100!!!!!!! That's were the pumped STOPPED on it's own (I guess they only pre-approve $100 at a time). I'm speechless....

6' 2"

2008-07-06T18:52:00.001-07:00

I do have to say that at times it is quite nice that your husband is 6'2" and 240lbs. We live in the sticks and until we had children; that most of the time go to bed around 8pm (which is the reason that I may still have some sanity left)we really didn't care about the hoodlums who live around us. Now, they are pretty good hoodlums and they are just having fun....I wouldn't mind joining them some time... BUT they have been having TOO MUCH fun (I can't believe there is such a thing). For the 4th night in a row....ATV's going full force right behind our house on the dirt road....not to mention the gun fire and fire works that completes a redneck 4th of July...again not putting them down as I am part redneck myself. However after 3 nights of your children NOT GOING TO SLEEP UNTIL 10PM or LATER!!!!! It tends to get old....So I was going to march down to the dirt road and have a chat with them....TOO FAST....they were gone. I come in put some of the 3,000 things that is necessary for a family outing away....here they come again. Mind you this is 8:30 or so. Mike made it down to the road for their return trip and all he had to do was stand there....they whizzed passed, but wouldn't look back and we haven't heard them since. It's not what they are doing....it's what time they are doing it.

Let me update you on my truck! It is now sitting at the dealer so that they can fix the "receptor?" for the air conditioning. After it not starting a few times and I had to jump start it MYSELF one time, we went to Autozone.....which is actually a whole story in it self...$90 and 20 minutes of Jacob, Rileigh, and I cooking in the July heat THE FIRST TIME we started it up; the air conditioning wasn't working properly!!! No air out of the dash........only the defroster!!!! Murphy's Law is REALLY PLUCKING MY NERVES NOW!!!!!!

Today we spent the day watching a parade which the parade itself was just okay. Jacob and Rileigh actually liked it and thougt the best part was the fire trucks...good thing, because that's about all that was in the parade.

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

2 outfits trashed, 1 lost earring, the first fish of the day, and priceless memories. That's the summery of our 4th!

Rileigh ABSOLUTELY loved the kiddie pool and her 1st taste of watermelon on the Rhine! All though the 2 outfits that will never be the same didn't fair the watermelon so well, Rileigh thought that was the BEST!!! Jacob who couldn't wait to see the fire works..........couldn't get away from them fast enough. He finally stop screaming enough to sneak peaks at them and on the way home he said "I saw a cool fire work"!

I pretty much wear the SAME jewelry EVERY day....but today I decided to wear my garnet studs....because they were red and festive....on the way home from the entire day of running around a yard, in the house, and Ripkin stadium, I noticed that my earrings was GONE!! Of Course we found the back of my earring.......the part that every women has fifty of!! HUGE BUMMER!!!

The crabs were awesome............I never thought that I would be using a patio umbrella for RAIN, but some how it worked out. The rain started pretty much the moment my butt hit the chair.

Jacob, Rileigh, Kelly, and Ryan decorated "drums" made out of coffee cans....Thanks Pop Pop Mark for saving those........and had a parade. It was really cute! The parade route was straight through the food tables and around the big tree....about 12 times! With a break in between for at least 3 Popsicles...shew it was a tough parade! Parade....popscicle....parade....popscicle

I thought of Kathleen......who's birthday is on the 4th in the shower....call her when I get out.............DAMN IT.............didn't have that thought again until the drive though at Wendy's (OOPS...........forgot to feed the children dinner!!!) at 11:26!!! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Kathleen!!!

I do hope everyone enjoyed a day filled with family and friends!!

Who are you again??

2008-06-27T22:55:00.001-07:00

Believe it or not........the ants left the chip behind!! They were completly gone and the chip was still there! So, did they suck the nutrients out of the chip or did they simply give up? I quess we'll never know....

Okay the big LEMON of the day........I'm a part timer at the local VFW and for some reason I didn't know that there was a meeting in the back room. SO the GREAT cook that I am was dumb founded when a gentleman told me that 1. there was a meeting and 2. they were going to order off the menu........WHAT MENU?!!??? and 3. they actually did ORDER!! OMG!!! 1 small deep fryer..........15 orders of fries....3 orders of shrimp...5 orders of fish...4 orders chicken tenders and only 2 baskets for the small deep fryer oh and did I mention that I was THE ONLY EMPLOYEE ON THE PREMISES!!...with a full bar! HOLY CRAP!!! All in all it went OK, but it SHOULD have gone much better...with a heads up and a bit of prep. Any way they were the local Lions Club and they were very understanding and nice people.

Can someone please explain to me again why excatly we have to work again?!?!?! I'm just not getting it!

How many ant's does it take to move a chip?!!??

2008-06-26T18:21:00.000-07:00

Today was swimming play date. The iffy weather worked out just fine. EVERY toy we have was in the pool, kids getting along, lunch and snacks everywhere. Plain good old fun! Of course ONE slide on the slip and slide........the cushion on the end POPPED!! Does anything really work or last? "hey, Kelly, look at that stupid umbrella...I've been having problems.....WATCH OUT!!!!" There it goes AGAIN!!! Flying through the air almost taking out Dana and Tyler.....so who's bad luck does that one fall on.....Mine or Dana's??? Or is there just ONE REALLY BIG BLACK CLOUD....HOOVERING over us? Isn't being pulled in 3,000 directions at one time simply enough...."Jenn........I think something is wrong with the toilet" Really now, I'm starting to wonder!! Clogged toilet!!! AND OF COURSE it was after a poop!!

After dinner we're going swimming again and what to our wondering eyes do we see...........ANTS!!!! Holy Moly, about 200 ants on ONE measly chip. So.........after using up all of my ant killer on the MAGGOTS........we decided to leave those little ant soldiers have a chip!!!

I do have to say that the old saying if you give an inch they take a mile is still 100% correct!! I let Jacob and Rileigh play late and it has been over an hour to try to get them to bed........Rileigh is at the moment riding her horse in her room, she always makes it neigh.....and now she is playing with her singing tea pot. Jacob has been down twice.

Well......it's been a long day to say the least :)