Jackie tagged me...

Here you go, Jackie...Heaven forbid you "come after me". I would actually love it if you had to come up here!

3 JOYS: Being spoiled by my hubby, hanging out with our awesome friends and playing games on Sunday Nights, Being with my brothers and sisters...in SoCal.

3 FEARS: Loosing loved ones, Not being a good enough wife and mother, Dissapointing people.

3 OBSESSIONS: Right now it's the Twilight Series. I'm on my second round of reading the whole Saga...and I NEVER read a book more than once! I'm going out of my mind waiting for the movie...which is coming out on my b-day now, by the way! Happy Birthday to ME!!! ( I keep denying the fact that I am a "Twilight Neard" but I think that I may be one.) Making bows for Lizzy. Cakes, of course. (Don't worry, Jackie: I, too am VERY OCD. My friends make fun of me all the time. )

3 RANDOM FACTS: My pinkie toe will dislocate any time I bareley even bump it. It's been done it about 20 or so times...no exgeration! Going out to breakfast on Saturdays is my favorite thing in the whole world. I have a very unique gift...I am a human IMDB. If I see someone on a commercial or TV show, I can tell you what other show or commercial they have been on before.

C-H-E-E-R!

Last week, I enrolled Lizzy in Cheer/Dance and Tumble. She LOVES it. She took Dance/Tumble last year and next year we will try Ballet. We will keep switching until she finds one that she really likes. I can't wait for her game so that I can snap off more pics of my cute little cheerleader. Her two best friends (bottom right) are on her same squad and the three of them couldn't be more excited. More pics to come, I'm sure. GO SYRACUSE STORM!

Hey Katie...Guess Who Came to Dinner!

Your bro was kind enough to come all the way up here to give me a few pointers for my website. He's gonna do some tweeking to it to make it look tons better. In return, he got a taco dinner and some cupcakes. We had a great time reminicing about the old days and gossiping about everyone we knew and where they are now. My husband and him even found a lot in common had fun chatting about guy stuff. We had fun going through a bunch of my OLD pics and found a ton of you from 4th year at girls camp, actually. I'll have to scan them and put them up. The only thing missing was you! Wish you were here.

P.S. Everyone, I really have be doing stuff...that's the problem...I've had so many things going on that I really need to journal them but I've just been so dang busy doing all the stuff that I need to journal about! I haven't had a minute to breath, let alone blog about it. Updates from the past couple weeks coming soon...

Why do I always get the Wierdos???

Here are a couple of stories to let Katie know that she isn't the only one who gets wierdos at Wal-Mart...

The other day I was walking around Wal-Mart with just Trevor in the cart. A man dressed in just a grubby sweatshirt and jeans with a baseball cap on stopped me and asked me if he could ask me a question. I said "Sure". He said: "I hope you don't think this is wierd or anything but I saw you and I just thought you were so beautiful and I was wondering if you would let me take you out sometime." ...What the HEAK?! This might have been flattering if it weren't for the fact that I had Trevor in the cart and my wedding ring was clearly in view since I had my hands on the cart. Do I look like the type of person that would do something like that?! I was actually pretty offended. I said "Sorry, I'm happily married", held up my ring finger and walked away...what a sleeze!

Another story...

A couple weeks ago an older man randomly stopped me in Wal-Mart and said "Hey, do your kids eat a lot of cereal?" I said "Not really." He leans in closer as if to tell me his fasinating conspiracy theory and then says in a hushed voice: "Well, you better stock up because the prices are gonna jump sky high because of the flooding in Iowa and the wheat shortage!" I said "Oh...thanks." and walked quickly away. I realize that he might be correct on the smallest level but it was hillarious because he was acting like the world was coming to an end and we all needed to be prepared.

Why do I always get the wierdos??? It's like I have a neon sign stamped on my forehead that pulls these types of people to me!

My Baby is going to School Already!

My sweet little girl had her 1st day of school today! She was beyond excited and I was SO emotional for some reason. I didn't expect to be so emotional but once I entered the classroom and saw Anna, one of my good friends up here, I lost it and she had to console me a bit while I pulled myself together.
Today was orientation and the next 4 days are reserved for testing each individual child so that the teacher can asses them and get an idea of what they need to learn still or if they need to be challenged more.
I'm so excited about this teacher. She is a warm person who, I can tell, really wants to teach these kids all that she can while they are with her. I can see that she really has a genuine concern and love for these kids already.
Last night, I sat contemplating so many things...wondering if I had done all that I could have done while I had my sweet Lizzy home with me. Did I teach her all she needs to know? Does she have good memories of being at home with me? How will she establish herself in her little mini-society? Did I really do my best??... and on and on. Flashbacks of giving birth to her and watching her grow as a little baby kept flashing through my head as I made her pancakes this morning. I still don't know the answers to these questions but I just hope that my best was good enough and pray that Heavenly Father will help me in the rest of my journey as well as hers. She is such an intelligent, funny, loving little girl and I know that her potential is so amazing. I just pray that as I release her out into life, out of my home, that I have given her the foundation that she needs to make the right decisions. She has been blessed with an amazing spirit and I take comfort in that and in the fact that our Heavenly Father loves her and is watching out for her as well.
My heart breaks today for the moments that I won't get back during that precious time that has already past with her but it is quickly repaired by the hope and anticipation of wonderful and bigger moments and memories that are to come...
And can anyone please tell me how we went from this to THIS in such a short amount of time?!!

Watermelon Party!

A couple of months ago, my Lizzy got it into her pretty little head that she wanted to have a 'Watermelon Party'. She started mass producing little invitations and everything all on her own. I guess I had no choice but to comply. :) We had a Watermelon Ring Toss with real watermelon rings ( I just cut out the flesh and saved the ring...Lizzy and Ryan are "wearing" them in the pictures) and we also had a Watermelon Eating Contest. The poor kid that won got a trophy and...what else?...a watermelon for his prize. He looks like he's gonna puke in the second picture on the top row! It was great. So many people showed up. I made some watermelon cupcakes, but I forgot to take a picture of them. Lizzy was thrilled. Now I can stop hearing: "Is it summertime yet so I can have my Watermelon Party?" I have been hearing that for about 3 months now! Just as I finally thought that this would be over and she would be so happy to finally have her Watermelon Party, we were at the store getting the last of the supplies needed and she exclaims, "Mom! Next time I'm gonna have a Cherry Party!"....I've created a monster!!

My Sister...the Master...

For those of you that know me, you know that I have many sisters...all of which have oodles and oodles of talent. One is a Cake Master (my hero) one is a Photography Master, one a videographer/movie-maker, one a hair and cake master (among other things), and one is an awesome artist.

Here is a story of the talent of one such sister:

Not only is Rebecca an insanely gifted and talented seamstress (you should see the blessing outfits she makes!) but she is also the Genealogy MASTER. She is a teacher at the local college in Maryland and also lectures at genealogy seminars. She came to visit about a week ago and we got to go to the Family History Library for 2 days straight. It was like a one-on-one Genealogy Conference! Rebecca is an amazing teacher with the ability to inspire, motivate and have you retain the information that you have been given. It was a blast! Who thought genealogy could be a blast?! It really is exciting. It's not just genealogy, it's American history and it's detective work. It's amazing to be able to take the clues that you have found on this person and piece them together to find where and who they were what they probably did every day.

Thanks Becca, you are the best. I wanna be just like you when I grow up! :)