Halloween Pictures!!!

Oh My Gosh! We had so much fun last night! I am exhausted today, but it was a ton of fun! The kids had fun at Trunk-or-Treat and then we walked for what felt like miles around our neighborhood with Isaac, Faith Anne, Stacey and Brayden (he rode in a wagon). So we had fun, fun, fun! The kids had never done the door-to-door Trick-or-Treating so they thought it was so cool how much candy they got and they LOVED IT! Faith Anne was so cute the way she would kinda sing "Trick-or-Treat" and she would say Thank You too! Once, she must've forgotten to say thank you because she was coming back to me and then said "Mommy, I have to tell them thank you!" and ran all the way back up to their door to tell them thank you. So stinking cute!

Gracie stayed at the church with Daddy and Mimi....she enjoyed sitting in her stroller and watching everyone. Next year, she will be a terror, I am sure. And Faith Anne was only scared of the people with full masks on, and we didn't see that many of them. She did great.

We had to have our van jumped afterwards....it died. We are taking it back (AGAIN) to the place that charged us $1800 for a new transmission....the check engine light has been on and it has been having trouble starting every since they "fixed" it. This will be the 3rd time we have taken it back to them. I am going to be writing a nasty letter to the owner. He banks with us and because of what I do....I have seen many a nasty letter from him to us, so I am going to re-pay the favor! LOL

Anyways...it was a very fun night! The kids loved it...we have a ton of candy to get rid of because it will not be in my house for too long! Isaac has his party today, so I am leaving at 11:30 to go do that!

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween! Those that I saw last night were adorable!
(The pictures...if they all show up...are of my three kids, my nephew Brayden, Faith Anne, Faith Anne and Mandy's Abbey this past weekend and Gracie and Brayden - Kissing Cousins at her 1st Birthday Party - talk about bribery photos!!!)

Love you all!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Hello Everyone! Can you believe it is almost November?!? This year has really flown by! I can’t believe that we are on the edge of the Holiday season once again! Yikers! I guess that time really does go by faster as you get older – at least it seems that way to me!

Did I ever tell you guys about my hospital experience? Just a funny story…if I told you before, I am sorry. But when I was really sick a few weeks ago and ended up having some sort of infection in my stomach – when we were in the ER, I looked down at my bracelet that they gave me and I told Scott that they had made a mistake on my age on it. He asked me what it said and I told him 31….and he reminded me that I am, indeed, 31. WOW! When did that happen? I am not sure that I like being “in” my 30’s….but I guess it beats the alternative! LOL

So, we are still in Football Season! Isaac had his last regular season game two weeks ago and then this past Saturday was their first tournament game. Now, I am a bad Mommy because I was secretly hoping they would lose. It is a “one and done” tournament…so if they lose, it is over…if they win, they keep playing until they lose. So, the game was really good and a nail-biter. I hope they don’t have any more like that! But we scored first…then they scored….then we scored and it looked like we were going to win. With 5 seconds left in the game, they scored again to tie it up. So, since it was a tournament game, we went into overtime. In OT, both teams get a chance to score. So, we went first and we scored! Then it was their turn and they almost scored, but we held them back! I am telling you…when the game was over, I was wore out! You would’ve thought that I played the game! When I saw Isaac afterwards he just gave me a big hug and you could tell he was fighting back tears. It was very exciting! Their entire team played well together…we were very excited!!! So, he plays again this Saturday. Again, I am being a bad Mommy and hoping that they lose. I am just ready for the season to be over with! Plus, if they win they play the following weekend and I am supposed to be going down to Louisville for my annual “Girls’ Weekend” with my girlfriends from work. If they win and play on that day….I am either going to miss the whole weekend or have to drive down by myself to hook up with them later in the day. So…..we will see! It was pretty exciting to see them win, though. But that means that we have something going on again every night this week….oh well! I am not complaining! The joy of having kids!

Side-note….Abbey (Mandy’s Abbey) came to the game on Saturday with my Uncle. She and Faith Anne had so much fun playing together. I got a very cute picture of them hugging – I will have to post it. I have a ton of pictures I need to get off my camera! Faith Anne pitched a fit when Abbey had to leave…it was very cute.

The big news at our house….Gracie is walking!!!! Now, she isn’t walking a marathon yet – and she doesn’t do it when you want her to…but she is walking without holding onto anything occasionally! She usually does it when we aren’t really watching for her to do it. I haven’t been successful at catching it on video yet…like I said, she doesn’t do it when you want her to do it. It is so cute because Isaac and Faith Anne get so excited when they see her doing it. They startle her with their cheers and she almost always falls down….but it is very cute! She has certainly developed a little attitude and a temper! If you take something away from her, she gets very mad and she lets you know about it! She has actually hit Faith Anne a few times when she takes toys away from her! I wonder where she learned that?!?!? LOL She is so stinking adorable! I can’t wait to see her in her pumpkin costume tonight. I will really try to post pictures of all three of them in their costumes. Dawn’s were so stinking cute!

I am stressing out about tonight and tomorrow….it is times like this when I hate being a working mom! It just seems like there is too much to do and not enough time to do it in. Last night I was scurrying around trying to get as much done for tonight as I could and trying to get Faith Anne’s costume all ready for Scott to put on her this morning – her Preschool party is today. And then getting a change of clothes in her bag for the afternoon at my Aunt’s house. And then getting Isaac’s wig painted….and getting his homework done and everything in his school bag for today….and then getting Faith Anne’s preschool bill paid….and then getting the clothes out of the dryer and put away and getting Gracie’s outfit ready for today and then getting the candy ready for tonight and getting the kids “bags” ready to collect their loot tonight and then blah, blah, blah. I feel like Scott has so much to handle in the morning that I try to get as much done in the evening to help his mornings go smoothly – but I am POOPED by the time that I get everything done! The kicker is…here I sit at work and there is like nothing going on here. It is painful for me because there is so much that needs to get gone at home, but I am stuck here! So…all of that to say, it is times like this that I hate being a working mom! Oh well! It will all get done and the kids will enjoy it even if everything isn’t “perfect”.

Well, I guess that is about it for today! You all have a great day and a fun Trick-or-Treat night! We are going to be at the Trunk-or-Treat but I am also going to walk the kids around our neighborhood….as long as Faith Anne doesn’t freak out on me too much tonight. We might end up back home for the evening if she gets too scared!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Ramblings....

I am really getting bad at updating this blog! I still check everyone else’s journals every day – not commenting often, but reading daily. But I just don’t seem to get the time to get around and update! Oh well. I am here now, right? That is what matters…LOL

Well, little miss Gracie turned one since I last posted! Isn’t that hard to believe?!? The year has really flown by. She is doing better with sleeping (some nights) and she is finally holding her own bottle – well, sometimes! Seriously, the first time she held her own bottle for me was on the day of her first birthday party. We got home from church and I was rushing around doing stuff to get ready for the party and trying to get her to take a nap. Well, she needed a bottle but I didn’t have time to sit and feed her a bottle. So, I laid her in her crib and gave her the bottle and walked out of the room. When I came back, she was asleep and the bottle was empty! So, she either drank it or spilled it all over the bed. LOL So, since then…that is pretty much how we have been putting her down for naps and bed. Not the right thing to do, but it is working…so whatever! She isn’t walking yet, but I don’t think it will be long before she is! She is starting to get braver and letting go. The other day, she let go of the table and stood by herself for a few seconds. And when I went to pick her up from the nursery on Sunday Night, Chelsea told me that she took 3 steps by herself! Of course she did! Not sure that I am really ready for her to be walking….but ready or not, she is gonna do it soon! Her first birthday party was fun. I made the mistake (lol) of sending Scott to get the little cake for her and he came home with a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. So, she was a mess! I will have to download the pictures and post one on here. It was very fun! We also celebrated my Grandma’s birthday on the same day because Gracie was born on my Grandma’s birthday! That was nice….I know my Grandma loved it because she always calls Gracie her “Birthday Baby”. Anyways…there were some “argh” moments at the party, but it went well and she got a lot of nice gifts. Of course her Aunt YaYa bought her her very first Vera Bradley purse. Gotta start them young!

Faith Anne seems to be having fun at Preschool. Every day when I ask her what she learned she always says the same thing….how to cut. I hope they are learning more than that, but it is cute to hear her tell me the same thing over and over. We went to the Open House at her school this past weekend and her teacher actually said she is well-behaved and follows instructions. WOW! I was amazed at that! Funny thing….she said that we need to work on cutting with her at home! Faith Anne goes back and forth between her left and her right hand, so neither of them are very strong. I guess we need to pick a hand and try to make her stick with it. Poor girl….she has just grown so fast that we didn’t have any clothes that fit her! So, we went out last week and bought her quite a few things at Kohls (thanks for the tip on their good sale, Dawn!). We got her some good stuff.. Anyways, she is doing good. Just as ornery as ever! Her new thing lately has been to tell Daddy how handsome he is and me how pretty I am….so sweet. Then she says that Isaac and all of his friends at school are handsome and that Gracie is pretty and on and on and on. She is a trip. I seriously do not know what we are going to do with her on Halloween because she is just so scared of everything. We were at one of Isaac’s football games and there were kids (like 5th/6th graders) dressed up as a Firebird (eagle) and a Wildcat and she totally freaked out. I mean, they even took their heads off so she could see it was a kid with a costume on and she absolutely flipped out. There was no consoling her and she was tearing at me to get up on my lap and hide. So….I may end up at home with her on Halloween if she doesn’t get any better! She is going to be Little Red Riding Hood….we have this cape that my mom made for us when we were little. She is going to wear that and just a red dress under it. Pretty cheap costume! Good thing, she might be in the van or at home that night anyways! LOL

Isaac is going to be a “Bengal’s Clown” for Halloween. My mom made us a clown costume when we were younger and our school colors were orange and black, so that is what color the costume is. So, Isaac decided that it is a Bengal’s clown outfit! It is a bit long on him, but looks very cute. So, he is going to wear that and we are going to paint his face orange and black and then I bought him a big black afro wig that I am going to paint half orange and he will wear that. He will be very cute. So, another cheap costume. And Gracie is going to be a pumpkin – what Faith Anne wore last year. We were cheap this year!

Football is almost over for Isaac. His last regular season game was this past Saturday. Tournaments start this weekend, but they are single elimination, so I think we will only have one game – which is fine by me! Actually, the team they are playing hasn’t won a game this year, so we might win! I am ready for the break! We were going to get him in basketball or wrestling for the winter, but I am just ready for a break! So, I think we are going to do that instead! He has really had fun with football – and so have we! Two Fridays ago, we went with some of the families from his team to Tom’s Corn Maze. That was a blast! I have never done anything like that….basically go into a cornfield maze and find clues to find your way back out. We left the girls with my parents and just Scott and I went with Isaac. We had so much fun. It was a little freaky at times….but very fun. Then we had a bonfire in the woods afterwards and roasted marshmallows and had fun with the kids. I really spent a lot of time talking to one of the single moms on the team and it was very eye-opening to me. I respect her so much. I mean, we all have to sacrifice for our kids, but this woman has sacrificed so much. It was a great time and I just wish we had done stuff like that earlier in the season because I got to know some of the moms so much better!

School is going great for Isaac! I went to the parent/teacher conference two weeks ago and I was pretty nervous. If you remember, last year at his conference the teacher basically told me that he was struggling and we should start thinking about holding him back. So, I was nervous, but based on the stuff he brings home, it looked like he was doing well. Mrs. Codispoti (his teacher), just spoke so highly of him! She said that he is doing great! He does tend to sound out every word when he should just read some of them (lightening words), but she said that he is amazing at sounding words out and it really helps some of the other kids in the class. I think he gets that from Mrs. Stuve at church…she works so well with them in Sunday School. But anyways, we have to work on just reading the words he knows instead of sounding them all out – and part of that, I think, is boosting his confidence. When we started talking about his writing, she got really excited and told me that she was so excited to share with me his journal because he has the best handwriting in the class! She said that he does such a great job of keeping his writing neat and even when he is writing words that he doesn’t know how to spell correctly, he does such a good job of spelling them phonetically that you know what he is saying – more so than the others in the class! Get this….here was his journal entry that she shared with me (tell me who it sounds like)…”I like the Bengals, but they are not going to win a game. I wish they would. I like their Quarterback Carson Palmer and I like Chad Johnson.” Now, the words weren’t all spelled correctly, but you could absolutely understand what he was trying to say. Too cute. So, anyways…she said he is doing great and he is right where he should be. I hope that continues! I don’t want him to struggle in school!

Umm…everything else is just plugging right along. I have started my Christmas Shopping – actually have three people DONE. I probably have more than that done when I pull out all the Vera stuff I bought at the Trunk Show. But I actually have 3 people’s presents bought and wrapped already (the Vera store wrapped them for me)! And I was in Lane Bryant last night and they were playing Christmas music. Now, that is a bit extreme. I think I would DIE if I had to listen to it at work all the time already. I do listen to our Christmas cantata at work occasionally, but that is a bit different. Anyways, so hard to believe that it is almost that time of the year again. Scott said he was at a customer’s house last week and she already had her tree up and presents underneath it. What? Now, even I am not ready to do that yet!!! At least wait until after Halloween, if not Thanksgiving. Wait, I usually don’t wait until after Thanksgiving! LOL I am going to try really hard to this year, though.

We had a great time at our Women’s Retreat this past weekend. I had to leave early on Saturday – just when the speaker was really getting started, but we had so much fun goofing off on Friday night! We sat around the campfire and sang for about 2 hours! It was just fun and very up-lifting! I have another Girl’s Weekend coming up soon! My 3 close friends at work and I are going to go to Louisville for a short trip. We go away every year for a weekend in the fall – for like the past 3 or 4 years. I am looking forward to that fun time away. Hopefully my parents will be able to help watch the kids – I haven’t asked them yet because they are on a cruise this week! They called from Puerto Rico the other night….they are really enjoying retirement! I am so happy for them!!!

Well, I guess that you are probably bored now and I should really get to work! Speaking of work, it has been crazy the past few weeks and this week is boring – go figure. It is really either feast or famine. I have never heard about the Audit position that I interviewed for. Crazy! They were supposed to let me know last week and I haven’t heard the first thing. I am sick of calling them. At this point, I am sure that I didn’t get it…and even if I did, I would probably not accept it because of the way they have handled it. But it would still be nice to have some closure to it. Oh well….must not have been meant to be!

Take care!!!! Love you all!

Umm...Hello?

Hi! Don’t know if you all remember me or not, but I just thought I would stop by and give a quick update! Life has happened to us and I have been lurking daily, mostly waiting to see if Josy is EVER going to have that little baby….so I have kept up with those of you that post regularly….but just haven’t done a good job of commenting or posting myself! Oh well! So goes life!

I really should be working right now, but there is too much to do that I don’t even know where to start….so I decided to not start! LOL How is that for procrastination?!?! Let me start with work….so, there is still no word on the Audit position that I applied for. I heard from the hiring manager yesterday and they are looking at October 15th before there will be any decisions made. They have really made this a long-drawn-out process. Part of the problem is that there have been a lot of vacations, but also they are doing their budget planning for 2008 and so that has taken top priority. So, whatever. I will continue to wait. I am not feeling really confident about the job, but I still would like some closure to the issue. Time will tell. In the meantime, my job has been busy lately. Just a lot of stuff going on as we enter the 4th Quarter. My boss is the same – nothing has changed there. Oh well, eventually he will get moved out of here.

I was very sick last week – for a week! It was horrible. I thought I just had the stomach bug that Scott had….but it kept lingering and I was in a ton of pain. So, I finally went to the ER and they treated me as if I had e coli. I am not sure if that is what I had or if I had a stomach virus that sat so long in my stomach that it turned into an infection, but either way….after morphine, vicodine and then two doses of the anti-biotics, I finally started to feel better! It was really bad. Not a lot of vomiting or the other stuff, but just immense pain in my abdomen. It was seriously worse than labor pain! And it would not go away for a week. But, I am all better now and so far, none of the kids have gotten it! That is the most important thing!!! But, it did kick-start my losing weight…I lost 14.5 pounds in a week! Not eating will do that to you. Problem is…my appetite is back with a vengeance this week!!! But I have been going to the gym. I am really struggling with this…..depressing. But, you all have heard this before, so why bore you? LOL

Let me give you an update on the kiddos:
Isaac is doing really great. He seems to be doing great in first grade….we have the first Parent/Teacher conference next week. All of his work that he brings home have been all E’s with one S. His spelling tests are all E’s…his math tests are too. So, he just seems to be doing great in school. Football is still going strong. They have only won one game, but he just has a good time with it. This past weekend, my sister Janice and her whole family came to his game. That was a shocker! We go to a lot of my nephew’s games, but they had never been to one of Isaac’s. We had a really good time and it was nice to be able to talk to my sister some. We actually got to talk a lot at my nephew’s game on Saturday night…so I saw a lot of them this weekend. Anyways, back to Isaac….he is such a good little Team Player – always cheering his team on and staying up-beat even when they aren’t winning. He has said that football is a lot more work then he thought it was going to be, but he still seems to enjoy it. Scott has started helping out with coaching at the practices and on the sidelines at the game. He does really good with the kids.

Faith Anne is well, Faith Anne! She has such a strong spirit – a nice way of saying she is a stubborn brat! LOL I guess that preschool is going well. I never pick her up or drop her off, so I haven’t heard any problems. My mom said that she is rarely sitting down like all the other kids are when she picks her up, so I am sure we will be hearing from Mrs. Baker soon. She really seems to like going to school two days a week. She keeps us in stitches at home because you just never know what that little girl is going to say or do. She marches to the beat of her own drum. Yesterday, she wanted to talk while Isaac was talking, so she took the bowl that she had just eaten her snack out of and whopped him on the face with it. She can just be mean as a pistol – but also sweet as candy when she wants to be. So, she is going to be a challenge!!!

Gracie – she is going to be one next week! I cannot believe it! This year has just flown by! She is just a sweet little baby who is into absolutely everything at our house! She did sleep through the night for the past two nights…so we will see! We moved Faith Anne out of their room and put her in with Isaac until Gracie learns to sleep better. That has just meant that Faith Anne ends up in our bed. So, not sure how this is all going to end up! But Gracie is doing better with sleeping lately. It won’t be long until she is walking. She walks around stuff while holding on and will occasionally let go and just stand by herself. So, I am sure she will be walking soon. I don’t know that I am really ready for that, but what can you do? She makes all kinds of noises and definitely her first word has been Mama…which is great because the other two said Dada first. She is just such a cutie batootie! We are having her party on Sunday and I am anxious to see how she will do. She doesn’t seem to really like crowds very much. At Isaac’s party she was fussy until everyone left and then she perked right up! I can’t wait to see her dive into her cake! This is FOR SURE the last time I am planning a one-year old’s party!!! FOR SURE!!!

Scott is doing well. He is still a leader at work and liking his job. Every company has things that irk you, but he is doing really well. His job has been such a blessing to our family. Obviously the money is great….but more than that the flexibility that he has…it has just made our lives so much easier. I still feel like every day is a marathon….but it is so much easier since he can be around to help so much. I get aggravated at him sometimes (don’t we all get that way with our hubbies?), but he does so much with the house and the kids. He was just wonderful when I was so sick. Between him and my parents, I couldn’t have made it without them!

So, that is the quick and dirty (well, not really) on what has been going on with us. I know there are so many things that have happened…it’s been so long, but it would take forever to recap all of it! Hopefully Josy will have that little baby girl soon! Take care and love you all!!!