Saturday, June 28, 2008

Don't you just love...

1. The 4th of July?? 4th of July is a great, fun time of the year except when your neighbors shoot fireworks off at 8am and freak your dogs out. Did I mention that it is illegal to shoot fireworks off in our subdivision since we are in city limits but you can go across Smiley Lane and shoot them off in the field til your hearts content. So...why shoot them off in your backyard? 4th of July is Abby's most favorite time of the year and I have scratches all over my sliding glass door that prove her love.

2. A letter from the IRS stating that you have a $668 tax bill from the 2006 tax year? Apparently when I was on short term disability when Ashley was born the STD company did not withhold federal or state taxes. I pulled our taxes and found two pay stubs from the STD company sitting right on top which confirmed they did not withhold the taxes. They also didn't bother to send us a W-2 either. We must have not known what to do with it since we didn't receive a W-2 so I guess we just filed it. Lesson learned...the IRS will find you, to pay taxes on a measly $4,000 even if it is 2 years later. I can think of a lot of other things that I would like to spend this money on, perhaps a new chandelier for the new house...Que Serra Serra, at least we have the money to pay it.

3. Smart *$! remarks from people at Wal-Mart? Okay, so I was grocery shopping with the girls last Friday and Ashley was having a huge fit. I put her in the car as she is screaming at the top of her lungs and these two older men walk by and say "Sounds like somebody's not happy" to which I replied "Yeah, it's me". Duh...do you really think she'd be screaming if she was happy?

Here's wishing you a happy start to your weekend with no fireworks, back tax bills or Smart *$! remarks.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Hysterosalpingogram...HSG

That's what I had done yesterday, Hysterosalpingogram. It was about as much fun as giving birth except you can get drugs when you have a baby and you get to bring a sweet little bundle of joy home!

DP wanted to do a test on me to make sure that my tubes weren't blocked. They basically put a dye into you and take X-rays to watch the dye run through your uterus, tubes, etc all the while pinching you in with a very long pinching instrument in places that I care not to mention. Oh yeah and asking you to turn from one hip to the other while they're still pinching. Fun stuff!

I had absolutely no idea what to expect and that was a good thing. When I got home I googled the test and all these message boards came up about how bad it hurt and to take Xanax and valium before the test. Nice, huh. My nurse did tell me to take 4 Advil so I did. The good news is everything is clear and the dye ran through perfectly. Fortunately I won't have to do this test again. DP wanted to do it before we move to STL so that I have all of the preliminary stuff out of the way and because he's retiring. His last day in June 30. I told him my home movies were not going to be the same without him. I'm believing that the IUI that we do next week will work and that I will find two lines on a stick by the time we move.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

SLACKER

Yes, I've been slacking on my blog. Things are getting pretty busy around here. This past week has been absolutely incredible and all the glory goes to GOD!

Here are the highlights:

1. Last months' fertility treatments did not work but I went in for an ultrasound on Thursday morning and it revealed that the cyst(s) on my ovaries were gone!! They must have shriveled up and went away just like I prayed for. We started our second round of fertility treatment last Thursday so I'm believing that this month will be the month.

2. We have a firm closing date on our new house...July 18th!

3. We have tenants moving into the house that we currently live in on August 1st and they want to buy it after they get settled. No more open houses or signs in our yard and when they are ready to buy no realtor commissions!

4. MasterCard made Corey a full time offer and he accepted it!! Yea, this means he gets paid for holidays, vacations, etc, bonuses, profit sharing, 401 K match, better (and less expensive) health insurance...the list goes on. Corey applied for an FTE position with MasterCard back in November and while he was going through the process he got hooked up with a tech company and they ended up hiring him as a consultant to do a 12 month contract with MasterCard. The position that MasterCard just offered him was actually a position above the position that he applied and interviewed for in November.

So as you can see it's been a pretty exiting week. We've been sowing seed towards this for a long time, being consistant, steadfast and not waivering in our faith. I'm so glad that the harvest has started! I'm going to sit back and enjoy the moment because it won't be long before we have a new set of things stretch our faith for.

This whole house thing has stretched our faith the farthest that it has ever been stretched, at least at this point in our lives. We came to Columbia 8 years ago, lived in an older apartment, no kids and made a salary of about $22K per year while Corey went through engineering school. I can remember entertaining and cooking lots of chicken marsala for our friends in that tiny apartment with ugly cabinets and a green countertop. At that point in our life our faith was stretched just by tithing the first 10% of our income and then trying to figure out how we were going to pay a $75 car insurance bill.

In April, we finally decided to build a house in STL instead of purchasing a pre-existing home. I was completely freaked out about starting this project without a contingincy on the home we already own. We prayed about it, felt at peace and finally got to the point where we truly just let God take care of it. We just kept saying "He will never see His seed forsaken or His children begging for bread"..."or standing in a welfare line" (quote from a famous Columbia Pastor).

I remember desiring just one house...now we are about to have 3 (almost 4, the duplex counts as 2 houses to me) - Lord, I'll sell the rentals anytime - with multiple houses comes multiple responsibility - I'm glad God has faith in us to handle it, desiring just one child...now we have 2 and are working on 3, desiring a job that paid well and where I didn't have to work weekends...now I don't have to work at all. Gosh...can I just tell you how good God is to those who are faithful...to God be all the glory because greater is He that's in me than he who is in the world.

As I close out this post maybe "Slacker" isn't the right title because in all of these years God has certainly not "slacked" on us.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Promise

I promise I'll post soon. Here's a few pictures of swimming lessons to hold you over.



Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Done

I'm done posting recital pictures (these are for Mom), I'm done being on the phone for 3 hours trying to get our new computer fixed, TumbleBees is done, dance is done, I'm done being a "gypsy", I'm done doing open houses every Sunday...the list goes on! The good thing is that with everything "I'm done" with there is a new beginning and beginnings are good...endings are good too...heck all the stuff in the middle is good. I work really hard not to take any of it for granted and just praise God for it all!

The recital went great, Aly was awesome! The performance bug has bitten Al. She smiled the entire time and was the best (and cutest) kid up there! Not that I'm bias or anything. We didn't get to take pictures during her performance so I'm posting a few pics at the request of the grandparents.

Yesterday morning I tried to log on to our computer to check email before Corey started work and I realized we had no Internet service. I got on the phone with MediaCom right away because I knew Corey was not going to be a happy camper. We did some trouble shooting and then they determined we should switch out the modem. I ran it up to MediaCom, brought the new one back and still no dice. Corey hooked the modem up to his work laptop and it worked like a charm. So the problem was with our 5 1/2 month old computer. I spent 3 hours on the phone last night with HP & MediaCom and HP concluded that we would need to do a system recovery. Basically that means we were going to wipe out the whole system and start from scratch. Uh...that doesn't really work for me. So I said a prayer and went to Sam's Club this morning and they are going to exchange my computer, no problem! So I bought the new, better computer this morning and set up a time to bring the old one back this weekend. I lugged the box all the way inside, sat down at the computer to type a letter before I started swapping things out and low and behold our old computer works again. Geesh! We are still doing the swap but I decided to get on and take care of my business while it's working. You just don't realized how addicted er I mean dependant you are on the Internet until you don't have access to it.

The girls started swimming lessons at Machers yesterday. They were so cute. Aly & Ashley are in the same class and Ash was a little scared and timid. Aly was very sweet and motherly toward her, holding her hand, rubbing her back, etc so that Ash wouldn't be afraid. I might take my camera tomorrow and try to get a few pics.

Since I spent 3 hours on the phone last night I decided to take the girls to Mickey D's for their favorite breakfast and some special girl bonding time. They love pancakes and sausage. I try to take the girls out to breakfast frequently. We create quite the buzz and conversation amongst all of the senior citizens that are there reading their papers and enjoying their coffee. Being a stay at home Mom I feel like I can relate to the senior citizens sometimes. They are so friendly and always looking for someone to have conversation with and so am I.

After Mickey D's we did some Father's Day errands, got chocolate covered raspberries at The Candy Factory and some other Father's Day stuff, went to IB Nuts for some fun "local flavor" Father's Day gifts and also Target for the necessities...tp, oxyclean and of course a critter container. As much as Aly is a girly girl she loves "tomboy stuff" too. She's managed to accidentally kill a caterpillar and a frog so maybe with the proper house for the critter we will have better luck.

The only other news is that we did a little procedure at Dr. Penney's office last Wednesday so now we are just waiting to see if we get two lines on a stick next week. Also, now they are saying the house should be ready around July 17th as opposed to before July 4th. So now that you are completely up to speed it's time for me to speed off again!



Aly & Ashley (Ashley's "done", This was taken before the second show, no nap and she's cutting her 2 year molars)




Aly & Grandma





Aly & Omi





Aly & MawMaw





Our Little Superstar!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 10 year anniversary. I love Corey more today than the first day I met him (although that's how is should be). It's been such a joy to grow up together. We met at 16 and were married by 20. Now 30, 2 kids (working on 3), 2 dogs, several jobs and homes later here we are. I was inspired (thanks Kim) to put together a slide show of the past 14 years but most of my pictures are packed up and buried in the garage as we await our move (all the good stuff is pre digital). So, I'm posting a few pictures that bring a smile to my face and I've linked a special song to my blog (thanks for your help Mom) that describes my love for Corey perfectly. Enjoy!



Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Sassy Pants


I snapped this picture of Aly yesterday during her dance recital rehersal. The way she is standing and the look on her face so reminds me of me...sassy pants!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Teasers!




I've been waiting for this day since I had my first ultrasound and found out that I was having a girl! Aly and I were practicing her "look" tonight for her pictures and dance recital this weekend. She is doing a tap dance to Cruella DeVille and should be absolutely adorable. I told her I was going to take a few pictures and she started posing like crazy for me. The poses were all her idea.