and now the writers stike isn't so bad

we've been waiting for a long time now. the day is finally here. and in 8 short hours...
the thing that has been the saving grace for our marriage...=P

LOST RETURNS.

we've been prepping by reading, up and listening to podcosts. ohhhhhh.. the anticipation!
Seriously, the is the one show , that we make sure we are home for. nothing was able to be on our calendar for this night.
(cept we do have to go get our pictures taken for the church directory at five o'clock).

thinking of creating a themed dinner.
we'll see if it actually happens.

we'll get the kids in bed..because as any of you know, if you miss even a second in this show.. you're sol. so we minimize the distractions , by turning the phone and the kids off.!!


can't wait to chat about this with you all. any of you who read my blog.. let me know what your thoughts are. maybe we should dedicate FRiday blog postings to be strictly LOST chatter.
hmmmm... thinking about that.

I do have some REALLY exciting news.. my husband completely rocks. I was dying to post about it yesterday, but I had a sick kid.. brig broke out in hives.. had to take him to the doctor.. swimming class for Tatum... ridiculous tornado/snow/sleet/ weather going on here..

So, I'll share with you soon, about what I did on Tuesday.!
I now need to mentally prepare for tonight's entertainment......let the countdown begin.....!

the aches and pains have set in !

Yep. I now feel OLD.

I helped out yesterday for 7.5 hours cooking, serving and cleaning up for our women's ministry event at church. and my back and legs, and feet are feeling it!

There were three of us for the majority of the time. Finally, we were able to sample the fruits of our labor... YUMMMM and it was good. cept their were no more green bean bundles. wrapped in bacon and covered in a brown sugar and garlic sauce. NOPE, after assembling over 220 of those little guys... we ran out !. guess women, are not afraid to eat in public!!LOL

no really. it was a great time, and we heard a fabulous speaker as she talked on exepting the wonderful invitations Christ has for us.

and open invitation. PRETTY COOL HUH?

so, since the kiddos were taken care of, my friend and I went to a local bistro for some drinks.

3 hours later, we made it home. our husbands were re living their childhood playing super mario!!

thankfully the kids were all in bed. and Brigham ended up having his FIRST sleep over!!

he was so excited to be in a sleeping bag in the girls room. and he could have cared less that his parents were not there.

We picked him up around lunch time.. and he was already to go back tonight, for another sleep over!!

figured we should give our friends a break from him.. lol.

I had a really great birthday. celebrated on Monday night with my dad at a local pizza place known for fried dough balls.

YEP. FRIED DOUGH. dipped in cheese. and then pizza. and of course my dessert. cuz it was my birthday.

and then the next day (my actual birthday) I got into my car to find the newest cd from him sitting on my driver seat with a note that said. "Play track one."

I treated myself to this after dropping Brig at preschool.

then did the normal dusting, dishes, laundry, etc. JOY!!

That evening, we met my mom and brother at Olive Garden.

I can't believe it, b/c I am so not a chain kinda person. But I had seen a commercial the week before for this lasagna rollatini with chicken and alfredo.

the power of television, I tell ya.

SO off we went. and a few glasses of wine later. and some cheap entertainment(thats why we bring the kids along!).I was stuffed!..

but not to stuffed to have some chocolate tuxedo mousse cake. and they also brought me out their little cake. and sang.

Brigham loved that.

it was lots of fun and of course, my mom over did it with the gifts. and I am still trying to pick out which office armoire and file cabinets I want. hopefully they'll be ordered soon!

after dinner, Andrew took me to Target, and I picked up $50 worth of stuff that I just had to have.

it was sort of the 'so I could actually have something on my birthday' deal.

Appearantly he has been working on something for months. He secretly has been running errands and strategically talking to a couple people on the phone. He keeps asking if any packages arrived. He says he is 95% done. I am completely in the dark. He tells me it will all be worth it. BUT I WANT IT NOW!!!!(like varuka salt) I am dying here people!!

well, I am off to scrap some.. kids are in bed.. hubby is out playing cards.

hope you're all having a great weekend.

and any of you have any guesses to what Andrew is getting me???

they say its your birthday.....

oh, oh.... dodo, doodoo, yeah.. its MY birthday..
(in the best of 16 candles rendition)..
YEP, my birthday. 33 years old. and while I don't feel older, I did notice some food stuck in the lines around my mouth yesterday... and well.. I've excepted the fact that I will trip over my boobs, if I don't have a meg push up on.

getting older rocks!

boyz will be boyz

well, we went to the Children's museum two weekends ago, and Brigham LOVEd the dinasaur exhibit.. he could dig for fossils, and see the skeleton, and walk thru a big prehistoric thunderstorm that kept him clinching to daddy's neck...
and a favorite place was where he could put on the tail, and hands of a t-rex and then sit in a big nest and 'wait' for his eggs to hatch!!
or he could just pick up his youngins(foam eggs) and throw them across at the little girl in pig tails!! LOL

so a couple days ago, grandma brought over a suprise.. it was a turtle egg, that when submerged in water for 48-72 hours starts to hatch!
so we've been watching and watching.. and everytime we walk thru the kitchen we have to see how it has moved .5672 mm.
the head and arms are poking out now.
so then last night when Andrew and I were enjoying the quiet and watching Sopranos' .. a little boy calls out from the depths of sleep saying that he needs to go potty.
so we don't argue and tell him to go to the bathroom.
next thing we see is a little boy standing in our living room saying.." look my penis is like my turtle coming out of his shell"
and there he stood with the 'turtle ' poking out the side of his CARS themed pull ups.
Andrew and I tried to contain our amusement.
its amazing really.. that even at the young age of three.. the fascination with this body part.
***I'll spare you the pictures as there are some kind of laws against those kind of postings...lol !

the winter blues.

well we've got them and we all deal with them in a different way. winters in Indiana are not fun and not pretty. we are stuck inside - a LOT- b/c the mommy doesn't do well in cold.

Brigham informed me yesterday that if you "put your coat, and hat and shoes on, than you can go outside and play .. and not be cold.". I love his optimisim. but it doesn't work that way for me!

I guess I could send him out in the back yard , but then I am sure some nosy neighbor would call it child abuse, to send my kid out to play all afternoon in sub 30 degree temps!

(especially when the mom is just lounging on the couch inside eating bon bons. =p.)

So we've gotten ourselves busy. Tatum is swimming two nights a week with mama. So far, she loves the water. The class is basically a few moms standing around in the water talking while we splash and dunk our children!

Tatum is happy that her boyfriend Carter is in her class, though she was apprehensive about him seeing her in a swimming suit ..she got over it, when daddy told her that her white pudgy thighs were adorable!

And Brigham started nymgastix last Friday. Yep, that is exactly how it is pronounced. He had a lot of fun, and even better since his girlfriend Hannah is in his class. She wears a leo. Daddy says Brig can't wear one.

And my house is undergoing MAJOR reorganization. Ya know its pretty normal to want to deep clean and straighten up a tad after the holidays are over right? Well I have taken it to the next level.

There is a small path leading thru the house and you can just barely make it in a few feet of each room.(ok, its not really that bad. ) but I certainly don't have visual peace.

and folks... its HUGE for me to have visual peace. or I am not very pleasant to be around.

so, I decided to organized the garage.. (ok, Andrew spent a few nights, out in the cold, re arranging it). I just put things into about 13-14 tubs.

I color coordinated all of my deco stuff by seasons. Threw out all of my cardboard boxed. AHHHH. It looks so much better .

and then I decided maybe I'd re arrange the living room. and then of course had to switch up the wall decor. and then figured out I need several NEW pieces of furniture.

(thank goodness I have a birthday next week!)

Searching for a storage bench type thing like this or perhaps the always popular bench from here.

Everything we get MUST include storage of some sort. we don't have a play room, and I am kind of nutz about toys being all over the place. again visual peace.

And since I have a few projects going, I figured why not convert our office to a nursery!!.

We thought we'd be out of this house by the time Tatum would be 6 months old. ok, so it didn't happend. the housing market is in the toilet here. and we've only live here 2.5 years. Not sure of where we'll be , so we decided to box up most of our office and create a place for Tatum.

So then the decision of where to put the condensed office. Since we just have one Large great area, I didn't want to stick into a corner, so we opted for putting it in our bedroom. Our master has a lot of space and with the cottagy theme going on, I am looking at this, or this .

I love that we can just shut the doors and the mess goes away!!

this is what our room looks like now:

and so basically I'll keep the soft pink, and sage and add some chocolate to make it a nursery.

Found these for her walls. and I want to add a chair rail around the walls. I am going for something to 'grow with' since we don't know how long we'll be here now.

And while I've been the organizing natzi.. Brig has been busy too.

He called me the other day to see his horse, Donkey.

appearantly he had convinced him to go outside with him. and prepped him in appropriate clothing, complete with dancing shoes.

We've also been playing in the kitchen making these:

and these : I've also been scrapping. would you believe I've gotten 14 pages done!! trying to keep up with the 31/31 challenge that Heather told me about.

and I have discovered this site. which I am totally addicted too. There is so much talent, and everybody is soooo nice. LOVE it!

* i've uploaded a few of my recent pages there*

well, if there is anyone still here, ( I know I can be a tad longwinded...lol) than I hope you are having a great day and tell me.... what do you do for those winter time blues????

this boy was born to dance !

my baby cousin got married! and she was brave enough to ask Brig to be the ring bearer.

oh my goodness , can this kid dance!! he was on the dance floor for about 2 hours at the reception.

He was right there in the middle of it all. Whenever there was a group dance.. he joined right in!

it was sooo funny to see him pick up the moves to the Cha Cha , the electric slide, and the chicken dance. He just watched and learned... (way better than his mama could.. lol)

ok, I really did know the other dances... cept for the cha cha.. guess that one is new. don't know who sings it ,I only know it from the Mc Donald's commercial!! LOL

can you tell I am getting old, and never listen to top 40!

-------------------------------------------------------

So Brigham was the life of the party, thank good ness he didn't steal the show from the bride at the ceremony... not like he didn't try or anything!

I don't think Andrew and I heard much of the wedding, b/c we were so nervous and focused on Brigham!! Of course the pillow DID land on his head a few times, and he DID pick his nose and show it to the flower girl. and he DID start humming... and would not stop..

geesh, we were nervous wrecks.. thanks goodness, my dad was holiding Tatum through the whole thing.. and of course she never made a peep!

all things considered, that he is in fact only three years old, and he is a BOY, and boys can't stand still or keep quiet for more than like .23 seconds.

He was pretty good. afterall, he did have to stand thru a communion and the whole ceremony

He made a new friend with the flower girl, and from the rehearsal thru the reception, they were stuck at the hip... or Brigham was tackling her to the ground!! again, BOYS!!!

He so politely came and asked his sister to dance... AWE!!!!

and here his with my cousin Hannah!

and he came and asked me to do the chicken dance...
Such a handsome dude.
and here he is with his new friend Lilly

and here is the happy couple! congratulaions Hilary and Bob!!

and of course I can't post with out one of my baby girl..

here she is with my grandma and my dad.

I LOVE this dress!!

what a fun weekend we had , so nice to get away and relax in a hotel for two nights!

and on the way home, Andrew let me stop at Archiver's in Indianapolis..... ahhhhhh!

I'm just a girl who can't say no! hoping I can actually use some of my new stuff now!!

holiday recaps..

ok so I have been slacking on the photo updates.... Christmas was so much fun with a 3 year old who disclaimed...'I always wanted one of these!!"... (that phrase must be programmed into kids at birth..lol)

and a baby girl who couldn't get enough of eating the wrapping paper!!

Here are the kids in their new Christmas morning jammies that Grandma got them from here.

I can not WAIT to scrap these pics!! Thankfully, we had to wake up Brigham at nearly 9 am!! Tatum started squirming about 15 minutes later. Gave us time to get showers (and then back into OUR matching jammies that my mom also got Andrew and I.. and get the coffee rolling!)

Santa got BRig one of these from Lilly's Kids. He was so impressed that it came with a matching bag with HIS name on it. How did Santa know that????



So needless to say, no pushing or prodding, necessary, and this kid had the camera to his face the rest of the day.. and at my mom's house later on.

He kept telling people, to 'stand like this' and 'look at me'...LOL







don't know where he gets it from. Funny thing is, is that its just a lil 34 mm film, (but we didn't put film in it yet) and he is having a blast, just winding it up and snapping shots. the FLASH is a huge deal!! LOL.. wait til he finds out he can actually take pictures!!


and Santa brought him a sleeping bag, and some aqua doodle things, and cars, and Deigo stuff. and Thomas stuff. and at 3 years old, my dad thought he needed a big Tonka firetruck with sound, etc.. and my mom got him a big yellow Tonka dumptruck.and well.. way toooo much stuff!!

(he is officially becoming all BOY)
and Santa didn't forget that this kid only wanted a Candy Cane.!!!



Tatum enjoyed the paper. She basically got clothes and a few teether toys, and other little rattles, etc.. She did get the teddy bear, thanks to Big Brother telling Santa for her. Its pink.. and oh, SOOOO soft.!!

Brigham is prepping to become a band nerd. my mom got him this sax.and its pretty much in his hands all the time!! these bowl games have been quite the hit for him with all the marching bands... (much to Andrew's dismay....)



And we're also addicted to Learning things.. thanks to the LEapfrog Computer from Andrew's parents. Brig thinks he's such big stuff, and he tells us how to use the 'mouse'!!



and my dad got him another type of leapfrog thing, where you put a book in it, and then you use a pointer pen, and teaches reading and stuff.

This kid is seriously such a nerd!!... but a cutie one for sure!! LOL

and Tatum got her first baby doll. My mom got her this Madame Alexander baby Huggums.

I actually had one when I was about her age. She has taken to her quite well and sleeps with her every night.










Santa brought Andrew season one of the OFFICE, and a new thinline bible and of course Broncho stuff.
I got a bunch of clothes, some christmas dishes, 2 Sandra Lee cookbooks, and a bunch of cake decorating stuff...

I am hoping to really push my business this year. I got several cool new pans. Can't wait to use them!

We spent our tradional Christmas Eve with my dad.. went to church, tried to let Brigham experience the candle light service.. but ahhhh, didn't go so well... so off to the nursery he went!!
then we ate dinner at the tradional Chinese restaurant. We always have to silently break out into 'FA RA RA RA RA"
...(christmas story)......
It was fun to have my brother back in town this year.
Our Christmas morning was just us four.. we took it slow.. I made monkey bread...YUMMM!
we stayed in our jammies and went to my mom's house for gifts.... LOTS of gifts.. and then we changed for Christmas dinner. she always does a fancy Crown Roast, and lots of gourmet stuff. We ate way too much.. barely had room for Grasshopper pie!!
anyway, thats a rap... hope you all had wonderful holidays.. and are getting into the swing of a new year!!


...I'll post pics from New Years Eve, cuz it was really fun.. and then from Brigham as he makes his debut as a ring bearer this weekend in my cousin's wedding!
Hope you all have a great day!

hello 2008

whew.. made it thru another year...LOL
with lots to be thankful for. of course resolutions have been made starting tomorrow(jan.2) !!
We had a great Christmas, and a super fun New year's celebration.(definately feeling it today..LOL)
Still editing a bunch of my pictures, so I'll share them later. I am de Christmas fy ing the house... ahhhhhh I sure wish there was just a magic *snap* and my house would return to order.
though it has been nice being all festive, I am sad to see it go...amazing how it feels so 'uncluttered' when it returns to everyday life.!!

Well, I am dragging here,(almost midnight.. but we celebrated to the wee hours last night)-
so I hope you have all had great holidays..( its been so fun seeing all your pics =)

wishing you a blessed 2008 !