My Grammie

Today my Grammie would have been 86 years old! The last birthday we spent with her was 4 years ago. We almost didn't make it because I was 8 months pregnant with Ashley and had been sick and in the hospital in Columbia with kidney stones but I was determined not to miss her birthday. Corey, Aly & I made the drive from Columbia to St. Louis to see her that morning. We picked her up from the Nursing home and took her to Red Lobster for lunch. She was only in the Nursing home a few months and was sharp as a tack. She always gave the cook a hard time about the food so she pretty much rubbed the fact that she got to go out to eat in his face. When I told him that she used to work 4 days a week at a doctors office up until 3 months prior to her stay at the nursing home he couldn't believe it. She always felt so special when we would visit and pick her up and take her out to eat. She loved showing Aly off to all of the other residents. The other residents were always trying to get Aly to sit on their lap and kiss and hug her. Gram made sure they knew that Aly was hers and not theirs!

I wish she was still here, she would have loved meeting her 1st great grandson. I like to think about all of the fun we would have and the things we would do if she were still alive now that we are living in STL again. Happy Birthday Gram! We miss you!

2 More Days

I put this on Facebook but it's too cute not to blog about. Ashley is not a big fan of milk. I make her drink not even 1/2 a cup at dinner every night (I am talking those little plastic cups that the kids get with their kid's meals at restaurants). We are constantly on her to finish her milk. Last night she brought her dishes to the sink, looks at Corey and says "I finished my milk so can I open a present?". Sometimes she's too funny for her own good!

The highlight or should I say lowlight of last week was I hit a parked car in the parking lot of Aly's school with the new van. Nice huh...I can think of much better things to spend my deductible on...especially at Christmas.

The real highlight of last week was we moved Joely into his own room, upstairs. This was all Daddy's doing, Mommy wasn't ready but I have to admit it is nice not having to sneak around my own room so that I don't wake the baby up.

I completely finished my Christmas Shopping yesterday...this includes all the odds and ends. Coincidentally Corey finished his yesterday too. He started and finished all on the same day...he should be finished since he only has to buy for 1 person. But he does a mighty fine job. I gently reminded him that there was a Tiffany's at Plaza Frontenac...you know just in case he forgot to place his order online in time for a Christmas delivery.

The kids are super excited about Christmas this year. Every day they are eating the chocolate out of their advent calendar squealing about how many more days til Christmas. They have gotten to open some of their presents early. We've been letting them open presents for about a week and a half now. This has worked out nice because they are actually able to appreciate what they are getting from each person instead of being completely overwhelmed on Christmas morning.

I think we are going to make our gingerbread house today and head over to the mall to visit Santa. Nothing like getting down to the wire on the Santa visit. Aly's is pretty concerned that the elves don't know how to make American Girls so she wants to visit Santa so she can tell him for herself. I told her not to worry because sometimes Santa does his shopping on-line too.

I really should not be blogging...I have too much to do! But I wanted to share a few pictures from the weekend...still looking forward to Wednesday!

Friday night was a blast, next year the kiddos are staying at the grandparents overnight! It was fun to spend time with all of our friends (B...it was so fun to get to wear the dress again, it was perfect)! They were even able to live stream the broadcast of Pastor Dave on TBN...here's the link if you're interested in seeing it. Click on December 11, 2009 and you can scroll through the show...Pastor's on about an hour into the program. Very cool to see our Pastor on TBN!

Cleaning and meetings went well on Saturday. I'm starting to help plan the monthly It's A Girl Thing meetings at church. Wii Olympics will be in January! I feel very honored to be asked to be a part of planning these special events that reach so many women!

We let the girls open a Christmas present early(Mom, it was all Corey's doing, I wanted to wait until Christmas)! You can see from their faces how very excited they are about the Wii! We already had our first Wii injury yesterday, Aly clocked Ashley in the eye...really hard...Ash cried for about an hour (and she's one tough cookie so you know it really had to hurt) and today her eye is swollen.

Joel's dedication went well...we had 17 people come to watch us make our committment to raise him up in a Godly home. We had a great dinner afterward and I made the best cheesecake ever! It was so fun to be able to spend the day with family! The girls had a great time dressing Uncle Benny up! He's such a good sport. After everyone left, Alex spent the evening with us since Erica and Benny went to work. We had fun hanging out with her. She's getting more and more fun to hang with the older she gets. Corey helped her with her math homework and we had fun just chillin the rest of the night.

Side story, Ash has jammie day at preschool today but I thought jammie day was Friday (I have a valid reason for making the mistake but it's too long of a story). Anyway she showed up Friday with her pj's on and everyone else had on regular clothes. This morning I reminded her that her class was having jammie day today and she asked me "is everyone else going to be wearing their jammies today too Mom?" And Aly says to me..."Wow Mom, you really messed up". Thanks girls...love you too!

Date Night

Corey and I actually went out on a real live date last night! Seriously this is only the second time since Joel has been born that we have actually been out by ourselves on a date for ourselves. They only other times we have left Joel is when we've had to do something for other people. Thanks Grandma for taking such great care of the kids and thanks to FCSL for an awesome VIP Banquet. We were able to get all dressed up, enjoy a great dinner and fellowship.

Here's a great picture of the girls loving on their Daddy! Daddy has had a crazy, busy week and is feeling very stressed. His project that he has been working on all year goes into implementation at midnight tonight so this equates to long hours and stress. When Daddy has weeks like these the girls sense it and Aly massages his shoulders while Ashley jumps on his back.

Joel's baby dedication is tomorrow morning and then we will have a houseful of people for lunch. Today is going to be a busy day of cleaning and preparing with a birthday party and two meetings in Fenton thrown into the mix...not to mention Corey's midnight implementation. Meetings Monday and Tuesday...looking forward to Wednesday already!

Our Life Lately (in pictures)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I think my new year's resolution will be to update the blog at least once a week...we'll see. So much going on don't even know where to start! Joely will be six months old in about a week. Time goes by so fast and he gets cuter everyday! Girls are doing well in school, dance, gymnastics, etc.

We got the Christmas tree up this last weekend (well, Corey did). It's not decorated yet but at least it's up. We went on a date (with Joel) Friday night, girlies were with Grandma and Grandpa. We both actually wanted to go to Cracker Barrel for our date dinner (you know with all the senior citizens). We opted for Ruby Tuesday instead since it seemed a little more "datish".

Had a great time in Columbia on Sunday visiting with good friends! We went to check on the properties (happy to report all is well, unlike this time last year when we were going through the eviction process with some of our tenants), visit our first church and spend time with friends. What a fabulous day. You can take the girl out of Columbia but you can't take Columbia out of the girl. Everything about that place will always have a special place in my heart. I told Corey that I want to go to CoMO for my birthday. I want to go to CC's (not the pizza) or Chris McD's, get a mani & pedi at Natural Nail and then head to the Lake for a new purse from the Coach outlet. Now that I'm thinking about it some dark chocolate covered strawberries from the Candy Factory wouldn't be bad!

We leave for Texas in about 5 hours. I'm so excited to spend Thanksgiving with my parents and siblings! We have never gone to Texas for Thanksgiving since my parents always come here. I cannot remember the last time we were all together for Thanksgiving, probably never because I moved in with my Dad right before my little brother was born. So out of the four of us there has usually always been at least one of us missing from the Holiday equation! I bet my Mom is super excited about having all her kids together for a holiday. My oh so talented sis is taking family portraits (and designing my X-mas card) while were are there. I also think the guys are squeezing in a Dallas Stars Game...against the Blues, how perfect!

So of all days to blog I pick the day that I have a million and one things on my to do list...oh and Aly has her Thanksgiving Feast today and with big crocodile tears expects her Mom to be there. I need to go pull my Super Mom cape out of the dryer now...Happy Thanksgiving to all!

New Pics of me and the Hub

Fun Times

Halloween was a success, I figured I better get a few pics up before it's Thanksgiving.  By the time I start to really update my blog again I will have probably lost all of my follwers! We went to Faith Fest at our church on Friday night, what a packed out event. We even came home with 4 new additions to our family...goldfish. We've had two casualities but the other two are thriving. Never in my life had I entertained the idea that my kids would win goldfish as pets. So goldfish, 28 cents; goldfish kit, $8.97! Lovely! We also went Trick or Treating at Grandma & Grandpa's. Before we went out we ate our traditional Halloween dinner...pigs in a blanket...yum!

Garden Gnomes For Sale

Grandma got this for Ashley despite all of the protesting...after getting it on now she actually wants to wear it for Halloween!

Big Healthy Boy

Yesterday Joely had his 4 month appointment (at 4 1/2 months). He was 14.8 lbs (30%), Head was 50% and height was 70%. He has doubled his birth percentage in the last two months! We are so happy since we had a bit of a struggle with his weight gain in the beginning.

He got to try rice cereal yesterday, yum. He loved it and had the hang of eating off of a spoon in no time! What can I say, he's a prodigy! Enjoy the pics of his first spoon feeding. Don't mind that he's in the car seat, I really need to get down to the basement and get the high chair, like I have time for that.

My brother got married over this past weekend, Corey and the girls were in the wedding so it was a crazy busy weekend. On top of the weekend being so busy both of our cars decided that the weekend was the perfect opportunity to start crapping out! It's not like we have junkers. So we have decided to take the plunge, I'll probably be getting a mini-van sometime in the really near future. My sister told me her friend is going to design a window decal for mini-van owners that says "don't knock it, rock it". I'll be first in line to purchase mine!

PS - have I mentioned that this incredible kid of mine sleeps 12 hours a night?? Amazing!

Stories For The Day

Gotta love girl drama! The girls test my patience every single school morning with clothes drama. "This is too tight, that is too loose, I have a wedgie"...you get the point! Last week I told Corey "watch this", and I had Aly pick out her clothes for school the night before. We went through about 45 minutes of drama...I said, "see, this is what I go through every morning".

So what do they get for all of this patience testing? Rewarded! That's right, new Barbies for all! Honestly the new Barbies were for Ashley being the "Top Ba-man-a" at school. That's how she says banana! And Aly's is for getting green behavior bees for one whole month. So Ashley picks out this Barbie with a dog and a dog bathtub, and all the fun dog grooming accessories. The part that cracked me up the most was the Barbie washing the dog in her hot pink high heels...hmmm, sounds like something I would do since those who know me know I wear heels all the time!

Next story, Aly got in trouble earlier this week and even had to miss dance class because of it. When we got home she was sent to her room to write "Obey your parents" multiple times. When I looked closely at the sheet of paper I laughed and told Corey..."even Kindergartners have nicer handwriting than you". If you think I am exagerating, look at the picture, can you tell which one Corey wrote and which on Aly wrote? I rest my case!

Lastly, I am totally loving the magic pills my doc prescribed me...for milk production people...however, on occasion I do think a magic pill for relaxation and less stress doesn't sound like a bad idea...I guess that's what reading my bible will do for me too!

Sunshine On A Cloudy Day

SURPRISE!

Surprise "Grandma" and everybody else, you get a real blog update today! I haven't totally been feeling like myself lately, maybe I can blame it on the hormones adjusting. I've had a real lack of motivation when it comes to blogging, etc. Maybe it's really a lack of energy but the motivation is there??

We had a full weekend of Soccer, Pumpkin Patch (didn't have the camera because it was impromptu after the game, bummer) and then Cards Game and dinner with Corey's family to celebrate his sisters' 30th B-day.

Here are a few pics from yesterday, Joel's first Cardinal Game. Pay close attention the picture of the field with the arch. They mowed the grass to look like the arch. What I want you to really look at in the picture is the railing at the bottom of the seats, someone to the left of us was actually letting their kids dangle over the edge...I know, can you even believe it? The kids had to be somewhere between 1 and 4 years old. It was making me so sick to my stomach to watch these Michael Jackson "esque" escapades that I told an usher so that they could say something. Even after the usher asked them to stop they continued to do it a bit later and she had to get onto them again! Unbelievable!!

As you can see from the pics, Joely Roly Poly is finally putting on some serious weight! I am looking forward to his 4 1/2 month appt next week to see how he stacks up on the growth chart. For awhile he was only in the 5th% for weight, doesn't look like that's the case anymore!

Today, Corey and I are celebrating our 15 year dating anniversary. He says this one doesn't count anymore but I still like to remember this special. We were 16 years old and he walked up the street to my house to see me and he officially asked me to "go out", exclusively, that Wednesday evening. I ended up getting grounded because I skipped dance class to hang out with Corey and then I walked him halfway home and supposedly my parents did not know where I went...whatever, but anyway after 15 years I would say the grounding was worth it!

PS - Jamie, do you see the stupid crap I used to get grounded for? My how times have changed of having to wear an oversized sweatshirt over a body suit just to get out of the house and Lisa gets to parade right past Dad in "those" shorts and "that" skirt!

Neglected

Sorry blog...I've been neglecting you. I'll be back soon.

Happy Birthday Gigi!

Happy 49th Birthday to my Mom...and the kids Gigi! We love and miss you! She really is only 49...she's not even holding!

Dairy Queen

I heard a new term this week to refer to a breastfeeding mother (Dairy Queen) and I totally love it. Credit goes to Michelle because I saw it on her FB page first but after seeing it there I started seeing the phrase everywhere.

Corey says he's cool if the "Dairy Queen" closes. I bet, do you think he has ulterior motives? Seriously the little man doesn't even dine in anymore, it's more like the drive-thru deal for him. He doesn't like dining in because it takes too long and he has to work too hard. So I'm constantly working the drive-thru...about 5times a day!

It actually makes me a smidge sad to know that he probably "dined in" for the last time about a week ago and I didn't even realize it!

Hope you enjoyed the random thought that is running through my head today! At least it's something...GRANDMA!

Highlights

The Highlights:
1. Joel-ly is rolling over onto his tummy! He's been doing this for a week or two now.
2. Aly is learning to ride her bike without training wheels.
3. Ashley thinks everyone goes out for a bike ride in their skirt and high heels.
4. Carpets were cleaned hence the pics of all of the furniture in my kitchen...makes for a crabby mom!
5. MIZZOU win (were not talking about the other teams)
6. Helping Faith Church St. Louis Celebrate our one year anniversary in the former biggest bar in St. Louis that is now a CHURCH (the church bought the old Incahoots bulding off of I-70).