Weekend Randomness

Time for a boring update.... ;)

We had a busy, but good, weekend! Friday night we took the kids swimming at the YMCA - which we joined a couple of weeks ago and we are loving it! Afterwards we went over to our neighbor's house to play cards and the Wii - we all stayed up way past our bedtimes! On Saturday, Ray took Emmy to a big hunting and fishing expo at the fairgrounds while Pooky and I went shopping with my mom. We spent the evening relaxing - it was a nice day!

Sunday was church, lunch with friends, then we did some yard work since the weather was nice. Ray and I are planning a big garden this year. We had planted a few things last year and it was so exciting to actually grow our own food! I want to do even more this year so we are getting ready for that!

Other than our busy weekend, not too much going on. The puppy is driving me absolutely bananas! The weather is gorgeous and we are spending a lot of time outside. I signed Emmy up for t-ball today, which starts in May - that should be interesting. I am not sure how she will take to it, but I wanted to give it a try.
Emmy is dressing herself almost every day. She is a fashion diva! Here she is yesterday walking across the yard in purple shorts, pink shirt, pink crocs, pink and purple heart-shaped sunglasses, holding a flower. Love it!

Weekend Randomness

I have been meaning to post all week and my list of random things that have been going on keeps getting longer...

• A tree fell on my house Wednesday night during a storm. Well, I guess it was only 1/2 a tree - No damage, it was just loud and a pain to get off the roof. Our friend Dan came over today and helped Ray get it down. We also lost another tree in the front yard. We lost several trees last Spring from windy thunderstorms and it looks the same thing is happening again this year, which irritates me.

Tree on my roof

• We registered Emmy for Kindergarten on Thursday. Kindergarten. How is that possible that my baby girl will be old enough for Kindergarten?? She is super excited about going, I am super nervous.

• We attended 2 different birthday parties yesterday. Both were fun, the second one had a guy there making balloon things. He made each child a hat (and there were like 25 kids there) and he also made Emmy a balloon mermaid. She loved it!

Emmy's balloon creation

• Our puppy, Ellie, has a urinary tract infection. Just as we finally get her house trained, she starts peeing dribbly blood-tinged urine all over my house. I got to spend 2 hours at the Vet's office with her yesterday to find out and we were given antibiotics. Isn't that fabulous? Just what I needed to worry about this weekend. (She is fine, and I did feel really bad for her because she was so miserable).

• And finally, a new friend with.much.love at Unwrap Life gave me this cute award. Thank you! Like usual, I am supposed to pass it on - I have so many blogs I love to read, and I have "made friends" with so many random bloggy people, if you are reading this, consider yourself awarded! You are all worthy!

Blah Blah Blah

It has been a stressful week and weekend for us.

First, Emmy was not feeling well. Then Pooky got sick. He had a fever and runny nose for a couple of days, then started coughing, and I actually took him to the pediatrician this morning (so thankful for weekend hours!) because the poor kiddo is just miserable - coughing and crying non-stop. He will act fine and play for a few minutes, then all of a sudden he is crying and wanting to be held. The doctor said his ears looked clear but his chest was a bit rattly, so we got some cough syrup and antibiotic. I am ready for this summer sickness to be over!

Secondly, we are getting ready to leave for another vacation. We have traveled quite a bit over the past couple of months, first to Florida, then Michigan. This time, we are heading back to Michigan for the weekend and our 10 year high school reunion (both mine and Ray's, since we graduated together). Then, we head to Ohio on Lake Erie for a week with Ray's extended family for our annual "lake" trip. We had originally not planned on going, but decided to at the last minute. Also, we will be driving this time - and with 2 small children and a 13 hour drive, we are going to do it overnight. We are planning to leave Thursday night around midnight, so that the kids will hopefully be sleeping for at least half the trip, and we would arrive mid-day Friday in Kalamazoo.

The reunion is Saturday night. I am really not expecting it to be fabulous, I am a little disappointed with where it is being held, and I know a lot of people are not going because of that. But, since I had a hand in planning - I found addresses for about 50 people - I feel obligated to go. And I know that a few good friends will be there, including Chantelle aka Photomommy. So, we will see how it goes, hopefully we will still have a good time.

There is also some other crazy stuff going on here that I would love to discuss on my blog, but I can't - just keep us in your thoughts and prayers this week as our family has some big decisions to make that could mean big changes in the near future.

More cheerful posts this week, I promise!

Blah Monday

Feeling a bit blah today.

First off, it is cloudy and very humid. It should rain. It needs to rain, and I want it to rain so that I don't have to water my grass today. But it refuses to rain. Maybe later.

Secondly, this weekend flew by, and we didn't even do much fun. Our good friends are moving, so we spent a good chunk of the weekend helping them out. I did get to shop for a couple of hours with my mom, and I got to work in the yard for a short time. But that's it. Blah.

Third, over the past 2 months, I have only been watching Baby R 2-3 times a week, as her mom had gotten a new job with better hours. The past 2 weeks I have not had her at all. Today, I now have her full-time again - good because I need the money, but bad because it was kinda nice NOT having her here - for mostly silly reasons, like I got to sleep in for an extra half hour, it was easier to go out and run errands, etc. Not that she is a bad kid, she just isn't mine, so it is different, you know?

Fourth, my 10 year high school reunion is in 1 month. I realized that if I am going to lose that extra 10 pounds that I have been carrying all year, I had better get on my horse - so no more pizza and Coke for me. :( It is depressing, but needs to be done.

Blah.

Weekend in Review

Another weekend has flown by, to be followed by a busy week. We are getting ready for another vacation, this time to Michigan for a week to visit family and friends, and also to attend a friend's wedding. My whole family is going, including my parents and sister. We leave on Saturday, and I can't wait.
This past Saturday, we spent the day at a friend of Ray's from work, and enjoyed a yummy shrimp boil, and the kids had fun running around and jumping on a big trampoline. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we had a fun time. A few pictures can be found here, on our friend Kim's blog. Yesterday, we went to church, then lunch with friends at my favorite place, Q-Doba Mexican Grill (kids eat free on Sunday!). After lunch, I met up with my mom and sister, who is here from Florida and went shopping. And... that was it. My whole weekend.
And this week, we just have lots of little things going on. I will be busy so I don't know if I will blog much. Happy Monday!

Easter Recap

We had a great Easter weekend, and I hope that everyone else did as well! Quick recap ~

Friday night we dyed eggs. Emmy did not like it when I told her we were going to "dye" eggs, she thought I was talking about the eggs "dying" which I don't really think she understands either, but she didn't think that it sounded fun. So, we decorated eggs instead. Whatever.

We went to an Easter egg hunt on Saturday that our church puts on - both Emmy and Pook gathered a whole basket of eggs (Pooky loved it, which surprised me). Afterwards, my mom, sister, Emmy, and I went shopping, had a good time.

Sunday morning, of course, the Easter Bunny came and hid Easter baskets of goodies and the eggs. Emmy found everything, helped Pooky find his basket, they both loved their new stuff. After church, we went to my parents house for dinner. Ray got to watch lots of basketball. Fun weekend. A few pictures:




Ohhhhh, pretty!













At the Easter egg hunt












Pooky's basket













Emmy and her goodies













This book was in Pooky's basket. I found it a while back at Target, and I HAD to buy it for Pook. It is a cute book.

Picture Wednesday and Update

I don't really feel like being wordless today....




My cutie Pooky








Crazy Emmy




















I cut all my hair off on Monday. Not sure if I like it.









Weekly Update:

• I started my manager role at work this week, and so far it is going well. I am still not used to working so many nights, and I don't like being gone so much, but you have to do what you have to do, right?

• We have all been sick this week, coughing and runny noses. Not fun. Emmy had an especially tough time, she always gets a horrible cough that keeps her up at night. Today has been a lot better, although Ray just started feeling yucky.

• Sunday afternoon, I took Emmy to her friend Jordan's birthday party. It was at a playplace called My Gym, and the kids had a blast running around playing in the ball pit, swinging on the bars and climbing on everything.

• Emmy has a playdate with Wynne tomorrow, which should be fun. We need to get out of this house! It is so terribly hot outside still.... looking forward to fall!

Happy Wednesday!

Weekend in Review

It was a busy weekend, and the next week or so will be even busier! Quick update on what we've been doing.... (well, I'll try to be quick)

• Emmy is still working on potty training. She is doing pretty well when we are home, but when we are out, she seems to forget a lot. Some days are better than others, but we are slowly getting there, I think!

• After living in our house for 8 months, the lot next door has finally been cleared. We have gotten used to being completely surrounded by tall pine trees since the lots on both sides of our house and across the street had not been built on yet. Last Friday the one lot was cleared, leaving a very open space where all those pretty trees used to be. I knew it would happen eventually, but I am still sad. Not to mention the upcoming 4 months of construction noise to deal with...

• We have new neighbors 2 lots down. A family with 3 kids moved in over the weekend and Emmy was so excited! We walked over to introduce ourselves yesterday. They have 2 boys who are 5 and 7, and a baby girl who is the exact same age as Pook. Emmy loved running around with them in the dirt of the newly cleared lot last night.

• I quit my job at the steakhouse last week. I really was not happy working there, I wasn't making as much money as I had hoped. So, I am back at the Pie, where I used to work. I am happy about it, because it is kinda homey there, and I get to work with Ashley again!

• Ray spent a lot of time over the past week cleaning the garage and organizing. It looks great out there, and he also built a fire pit in the backyard. Looking forward to cooler weather and toasting marshmallows with the kids!

• And finally, Emmy's 3rd birthday is on Friday, and we are having a small party for her at our house on Saturday afternoon. I am busy getting ready. I stopped my a party supply store and spent $40 on decor and party favors! I was shocked when I realized how much money I had spent! But, hey, she only turns 3 once, right?

Happy Summer

We had a great weekend - lots of swimming in the kiddie pool, running in the sprinkler, and eating popcicles. I even got to go shopping by myself for a few hours on Sunday!
Ray posted a great video of the kids in the pool - go and watch if you haven't already!

Weekend in Review

Random picture from the weekend - not quite sure what Emmy is doing to Pook....
We had a fairly uneventful weekend. Ray and I went out to dinner sans kids Saturday night, which was a nice change. We really didn't do anything for Father's Day - Emmy and Pook had already given Ray his present. When we bought it on Thursday, Emmy was so so sad that she had to wait 3 whole days to give the present to Daddy! So, we let her give it to him early...
Anyways, it is a ho-hum day, but happy Monday everyone!

Weekend in Review

WARNING - This post contains details of puke. GROSS.

So, my Memorial Day weekend started off great and ended kinda crappy. On Saturday morning, we had Pook's portraits done, as I already had posted, then we headed off to a nearby lake for some beaching. The beach was fun, Emmy splashed around in the water and played in the sand while Ray and I took turns sitting on a blanket with Pook. Good day.
Sunday started off fine as well - went to church, shopping trip to Target, went out to lunch. Got home, and Emmy said that her belly hurt. She laid around on the couch for a while. I decided to take a quick trip over to my parents' house, and Emmy wanted to go too.
We get 3 minutes down the road when Emmy really starts crying about her belly hurting. I am telling her that we will be at Grandma's in a few minutes and she can lay down, when she pukes. Everywhere. In my car. Gross.
Of course I immediately turned around and went home, gagging all the way from the pukey-smell. Ray bathed Emmy while I sprayed out my car's floormats and Emmy's carseat, which are really yucky. I then spent the next 24 hours taking care of my sick baby and cleaning up puke. Nice, huh?
She is feeling much better today, but now Ray is sick. And then Pooky doesn't seem to be doing well either. Ugh...
Good news is I am still training for my new job, and I had our big menu test today, which I passed - it was tough. I put many hours into studying and memorizing that menu.
Have a happy week everyone! I will be spending mine praying that I don't get the pukey-illness...

Week with the Family Part 2

Well, I am still trying to play catch up after a week of not blogging - so here is part 2 of what we did last week, complete with lots of pictures...

On Saturday, which was Ray's mom and aunt's last day here, we are a late breakfast at Bojangles, then headed to our local State Park. Emmy ran around the playground for a while, and we walked down to the lake and watched the geese.





Our happy family at the park....















Pooky, trying to drink my pop












Emmy on the playground....




This is my favorite! Ray took this one of Emmy through a little peekhole in a tunnel on the playground....




Grandma and Emmy on the slide












Action shot!


After we left the park on Saturday, some moron lady rear-ended my car while we were stopped at a stoplight. We were fine, and there are just a few scratches on my car. It was just irritating that we had to wait over an hour for the police to show up, and I will have to take my car in to be fixed - since it is a lease I want the scratches fixed so that I don't have to pay for them later....

On Sunday, after church we went over to my parents' house for an early dinner, which was yummy. My sister was still there, but left this morning. It was a fun week and the house seems pretty quiet today. Well, except for the part when I had to call Poison Control this morning after I found Emmy munching Tums... from what was left in the bottle, she only had a couple, but I thought that I had better call anyways, just to be safe - and they said that she should be fine, just to give her some lunch to get something in her stomach. That was sort of exciting, I guess....

Also, last night was my last day working at the Pie. It was also my friends, Ashley and Ashley's last night as well, so the 3 of us took some pictures together and ate brownies and rice krispie treats in celebration of our last day... I will probably do a post on that later...

Week with the Family Part 1

We had a very busy week - As I mentioned before, Ray's mom and Aunt Anita have been staying with us, and my sister, Christie, was staying with my parents for the week. We did lots of stuff and took a ton of pictures - I have so many good ones, I think that I will do this post in 2 parts....



On Monday we didn't do much of anything - sat around the house, Grandma played with Emmy a lot - playing in the sprinkler with umbrellas, building sandcastles in the dirt, etc. Tuesday we went out to lunch, and went shopping. I got a few things - and I am happy to say that my new jeans are a size smaller than my pre-pregnancy jeans - yay me! (shocking, despite the fact that I failed Weight Watchers...)



On Wednesday, Ray's mom and Aunt took a day trip to Charleston, so we spent the day with my sister. She came over to our house. We had a picnic in the yard and watched the big construction trucks down the street.







me and Christie....









Grandma and Pooky....











On Thursday, Ray's mom went with us to our usual Thursday morning routine - gymnastics and lunch with everyone. At lunch, we had a little birthday party for Emmy's friend Deuce, who just turned 3.






The kids at lunch - Jordan, Emmy, Deuce, and Wynne.






Pook, who seems to look more and more like his daddy every day....











I love those brown eyes....







More to come!

Busy Weekend

It was a very busy weekend, and it will probably be a busy week. My sister got here on Thursday night from Florida, so we spent a couple of days hanging out with her. Then, Ray's mom and Aunt Anita got here late Saturday evening, and they are here for the week. We spent the day driving around, showing them the "sites" of the city after a yummy brunch at The Original Pancake House.
Not sure what is planned for the week - we might take a couple of road trips, or we might just sit around at home.




My sister, Christie, with the kiddos














Crazy Emmy....

:)

Pook's Room

It only took me 5 months, but I finally finished Pook's nursery. Since I had finally made the valance for his window last week, I started looking for some sort of decor for the walls. The wallpaper border has cute little cars and trucks on it, but I was having trouble finding artwork or something that would match.
Then I found these cool wall stickers at Babies R Us - and the bright cartoony cars are a pretty good match. Ray and I put them up today and they look great!


We have had a pretty uneventful weekend. Ray had a very busy week at work, so it was nice to be able to relax a it. We did go out to dinner for my dad's birthday last night - Happy Birthday Dad! We are looking forward to a busy week next week - my sister is coming home for the week, and Ray's mom and aunt are also coming for the week to stay with us.


Also, Pook is officially 5 months old now.... where has the time gone??

Update

Not too much has been going on the past few days, so here is a bunch of little stuff....
Emmy has been very funny with the stuff she has been saying lately. Her new favorites are "in a minute" and "me too busy right now", which come in handy every time I ask her to do something. Also over the weekend, I told her that we needed to go to the store, and she said in a hopeful voice, "To Target??", which was very funny. That's my Target girl!
Yesterday, she put a laundry basket on her back and announced that she was a turtle. She also found this itty bitty magnifying glass was was walking around looking at stuff. She said that it "makes small things look bigger". Smart kid.
And she sings. All the time. She likes the ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Jesus Loves Me. She also attempts to sing along with any song playing on the radio which is amusing as well.
Luke is just a happy baby. Usually, you can just make eye contact with him and his face turns to a happy, gummy grin.
I went to Tot Trade with my mom on Sunday, which was fun. Spent too much money, but got a ton of stuff, mainly clothes for the summer for both kiddies.
Hmmm.... not much else to write. It's been pretty boring. Hopefully I will have something fun to post soon....

Self-Portrait Day, Plus a Few Other Things....

I have declared today self-portrait day! This is because I wanted Stevie to post a picture of her new haircut, so she had better do one too...... anyone else in???

And a few other things.... we put Pook in the Exersaucer over the weekend - he is still kinda small for it, but he liked it! Emmy is happy because she loves playing with that thing...
Emmy is doing okay with potty training. She still has good days and bad days, and usually still won't go #2 in the potty, but we are working on it...
Ray is out of town all week for work, which sucks. I hate being alone in the evenings. I went over to my parents' house last night for some company. I work tonight, and my friend Jeana and her daughter Wynne are coming over for a play-date tomorrow. Yay!
The weather is gorgeous. We spent most of the afternoon outside today. I got my car washed and vaccuumed. Emmy got bit by a fire ant and cried (beeeee......). Luke has been napping in his stroller most the afternoon, which is lovely, I was able to get a few things done.

A few more pictures....




Pooky in his Exersaucer














me and Pook - hooray for self-portrait day!














All 3 of us!

Ho-Hum Week

It's Friday again, and we had a pretty uneventful week. We had a playdate with Emmy's friend Wynne on Wednesday, and gymnastics yesterday morning, but that' s about it. A few things...

Emmy now refers to Pook as "my baby brother". She loves giving hugs, and telling me that he is her baby brother.
Last night, Emmy was playing with the phone, which she is not allowed to do. I asked her who she was calling, and she said "Caillou". (From her favorite cartoon on PBS). And she pronounces it "Hi-Fu". Cute.
I finally had a chance to do some scrapbooking, which I had been meaning to do for weeks. Emmy wanted to help - so I gave her some stickers, paper, crayons, and safety scissors, and she had a blast.
Pook is getting bigger every day. He smiles all the time, and loves to talk and coo. I started putting him to bed in his crib this week, instead of in the bassinet. He is now 3 months old... time is going by so quickly!
The Weight Watchers - not going so well anymore. I haven't gained any of the weight back, but I haven't lost any more either. Hopefully I can start doing better again...
And finally - Emmy is doing great with potty traning. We are still working on #2, but she has been consistently dry for many days now. YAY!
Have a great weekend everyone!