mickey cheese n' stuff

Friday night I went to our women's ministry event w/ a good friend of mine. Unfortunately it was very dissapointing. My husband said as I left that evening, well, even if it sucks, you still have a great time w/ Sarah! and he was right!

First of all the speaker was on grief..(kinda depressing), and then it was the same speech verbatum, that I had heard already. Luckily my friend thought it was interesting. Not to mention I forgot about who would be attending a women's church event on a Friday night. Um, lets just say.. 98% was over the age of 50!!
Anway, it was good for Sarah and I to hang out, and we did until midnight..(as I was coming down w/ a cold.. that was pushing it!!)

Saturday, we went to lunch with grandpa and then went with him to the Purdue Men's basketball game. We met some friends there, and enjoyed a really awesome game, as we spanked the ILLINI!! (brigham kept saying , GO purdue, beat the lions..) well, he was close =)

After that, we went out to meet some of our friends at the one and only CHUCK E CHEESE!!!
boy, did I have an eye opening!! Totally a different crowd. the line was out the door when we got there. I went in to see if our friends were there already, and came back in shock..(horror!).
Andrew replied by saying, Um yeah, didn't you know this was the WT capitol of the world?
Yeah pretty much. We heard people complaining about the wait, b/c they drove 1.5 hours to get here!! They probably spent their entire paycheck in one night!! so sad.
Once my friend got there, she concured. this coming from one of the most chic of all my friends. Her family always looks like they just stepped out of a fashion magazine.
We just kept saying.."its for the kids".
unfortunately most of the patrons there did not have that same motto. It was amzing how many adults were racking up these tickets.. then they would have hundreds of tickets they traded in for their choice of the crappiest of all crap.

Not to mention the food sucked. although the salad bar was pretty fresh and clean. Andrew said give it 6 months. this location has only been open about 3-4 months. But seriously, it was hard to have a constant conversations w/ our friends b/c the kiddos kept getting up and down. there was way too much stimulation for them!!
All in all Brigham had a great time with Grant and Kennedy, and I got to play w/ baby Ella.
oh, and it was fun for us adults to hang out too.
Brigham spent most of us time running up to other people's games and interupting them. I don't think he quite got it.

I admit, I did play about 6-7 games of ski ball. AHHH< the memories. and I skunked this little kid at the basketball throw game. Andrew kept teasing him that he was getting beat by a girl!!
So we combined our tickets , a whopping 85 of them, and Brigham got to pick his crap.
He chose a nice fairy wand( only b/c his friend Kennedy got the same one) and a sheet of stickers!
It was sooo worth it.
here he is riding w/ chucky (or Mickey cheese as he kept saying!)



in other news, I came down with a terrible cold and chest conjestion. ya know the one when your chest and upper back aches when you cough?/ Not fun.
we had to work in the nursery yesterday. I was like in a complete daze the whole time. I slept all day yesterday and then my mom sent over some home made soup. went to bed att 8:30 last night. Yep, before my two year old!!
I feel tons better today and am getting caught up on all the stuff I didn't do on Sunday.
have a great day =)

happy sweet sixteen

(x2) is what my birthday card from my husband read!!! what a silly guy!! Since he is 3 years younger than, me, he feels he is justified in making me feel OLD!!! well, at least he tried to be funny about making me feel younger this year!!

I had a great birthday celebration, that lasted three days!! Dinner on Sat w/ my husband and son. Lunch at a very nice, upscale yet comfortable steakhouse after church on Sunday.

Then we were invited to some friends house to watch the Colts game , which had a great outcome for most people living in IN, but not so much for us. It was a really great game, and I am glad that Coach D will be taking a trip to the Superbowl... Peyton, not so much. The more that guy wins, the more they put him on camera, and he just should not talk out loud!!!
(ok, just my opinion, but I think he's a moron!!)

Superbowl Sunday should be pretty rowdy, in these parts, as the two INdiana favorites duke it out. I have friends from college that play on the Saints, Patriots, so it would have been cool to root them on!

Anyhow, Monday, Andrew surprised me by taking the day off work for my birthday. Yep, that meant I could sleep in.. He made me breakfast, lunch(well, he ordered take out and brought it home =) , and I did not lift a finger around the house!!
He got me some scrapping stuff and this.. since he knew baby and I have been craving it- YUMMO! it was a butterfinger cake from COLDSTONE CREAMERY!!
yellow cake, cake batter icecream w/ butterfinger bits, peanut butter ice cream and chocolate fudge!
We indulged ourselves when we returned from dinner at the Olive Garden w/ my dad.
Totally was craving italian and their salad. Dad got me a bunch of scrapbooking tools and organiztional stuff from here. and also a gift certificate to a local spa for a European calming package.. massage, pedi and mani>. I am SO going to use this like the week after baby comes!!

Mom took me out yesterday and she spent mucho mucho bucks, at Target getting me this and some desk organizers.
I am totally redoing my office/craft/ scrap room. Got tons of drawers, and file cabinets, and the cool cubes for paper.
Trying to get one room done, then Brigham's big boy room done, and then baby's and re arrange our room. Guess I have the "nesting" fever sooner than expected. I am totally ready.Got some ideas for Brigham and just found a cool quilt in PotteryBarn Kids that I will have to get!
Here's me diggin in to my cake..
mmmm , may have to just get me some, before I get back into my hole of an office!!
Thanks so much to all of you who sent me cards, and Laura for my gorgeous gardenia plant, and the phone calls. So much appreciated.
*my husband said 'this phone is out of control.. does it ring like this every day?'
NOpe, just on my birthday sweetie =)

bring it on !

we officially got our FIRST snow here in Indiana. and by that I mean, it actually stuck to the ground!!

It was cold, but the sun was out in blue skies, and I couldn't resist waking Brigham up at 10:00 am to go outside and play!

He was SOOOO excited, and I had a blast watching him!
It was really hard to get him to come inside, until I convinced him that hot chocolate with marshmallows was really yummy!

Well, I better go get myself lunch, I forgot to eat breakfast , and I think that baby M is telling me its time! I made this fabulous baked spaghetti last night, so I think I'll go heat up some of that with a big ol' salad!!
( I've started to crave really healthy stuff lately~ not bad eh?)
Then the rest of the afternoon is dedicated to scrapping. Went to a crop at the LSS with my friend Jennifer. It was a GREAT girl's night out. Kinda got my mojo back. and I have plans to go to an all day crop hopefully, with my friend Kelli. Our birthdays are this weekend, so we thought it would be fun to do something for US!!!
Have a great day..
(and for my long distance friends.. it has been SOOO good to catch up with you, needs to happend again soon!)

I have become a hermit !

yep, thats right, this entire week, I have stayed inside. flannel lounge pants and comfy t~shirts, Brigham in his jammies. Basically I have been catching up with out of town friends with lengthy phone conversations, scrapping like a mad woman, and actaully preparing dinners..
I have only driven the car once this week, to go to the bank, post office and to pick up a small FROSTY .. (the baby was craving chocolate =)

Last night when Andrew came home from class , I pursuaded him to go out to the Pita Pit, and great little place on campus. I had coupons, so it made for a cheap dinner. And since we were out, we made a stop at DQ, because, once again little baby M was wanting chocolate in the form of a dilly bar!!

I must say I have been pretty productive scrapping away lots of Brig's pics from this year. I went to a friends house last Friday night and that pretty much got the ball rolling.
We are going to a crop tomorrow night at the LSS. I can't wait, to get my hands on all that new stuff ! I have splurged a bit around the holidays on the 1/2 off paper and rub ons at Hobby Lobby.
I have taken over the finances, which is a great relief to Andrew since he is working full time, going to school and taking 21 credit hours!!! He really didn't have the time to squeeze in focusing on the bills, while working a second job last semester too. Plus, I never had a clue how much money we had, and I would just make daily trips to his office, so he could shell out $20 or $40 bucks to me. He felt like a money machine, and I hated having to drive over there every time I needed to get money. So far, this is working great!! Everything is paid on time, and I have created a workable budget for us! Only half way thru the month, but its looking good.
And with our tax money, we will pay off our only credit card of $1000 and we'll be debt free!
never again will we buy furniture on store credit.. but when each kitchen chair was $499 we did what we thought we had to at the time.
Dave Ramsey would be spanking us silly !

We went to Indianapolis a couple weeks ago to celebrate a friends' 30th Birthday. There were about 20 of us surprising her at the downtown PF Changs. It was fabulous and she was so surprised. Andrew and I made a mini date out of it and went early in the afternoon, to shop around and then we stayed the night at an amazing hotel. Total luxery! We decided that we will try and make that happen every other month, to get away to the big city, or a quaint little B&B somewhere. We needed that time away from a 3ft chatterbox!!
While we were there, we found some awesome deals, and I couldn't help myself:
( adorable little newborn outfits pictured here)


We had a party for New Year's Eve, and I don't think I have laughed that hard in a long time. NO alcohol, seriously, and my stomach hurt so bad, I was worried baby M was going to have a heart attack!!
It was a lot of fun, and to my suprise I never got tired, and good thing b/c our guests didn't leave until 2:30am!! Guess we were party animals huh??
I tried some new recipes, and they turned out great. I would show pics, but blogger doesn't like to post photos on my blog.

Sorry for the randomness, but thats just how my mind thinks these days. Oh and I am into my 6th month now!! I totally don't feel pregnant at all. Have gained about 7 pounds and really am not eating much more than usual.
If anyone can give me pointers on how to actually post pictures, I can show you my 6 months ones, and some other cute ones from Christmas....
advice totally welcomed =)

a holiday sorta update

I hope all of your holidays were filled with joy, peace, and excitement(ok, did I just contradict myself?)
anywho, here's a recap of our Christmas .

Celebrated w/ grandpa (see last post) and Brigham got lots of loot.
It was a nice quiet time together and a great meal in the Chinese restaurant!

Christmas morning, Brigham woke up around 10am!! man, we are lucky parents LOL
He was not quite sure of what to make, in fact he told us that Santa didn't come....as he looked at the mound of presents under the tree.
It was not until he saw the cookies were half eaten, that he knew the fat guy had been here. Brigham went straight to this little kitchen. I was so excited to give this to him, b/c it was mine when I was little. My grandfather built it for me and w/ a little elbow grease, it became as good as new! Santa and grandma spoiled Brig with lots of food and pots and pans . We put it in our extended kitchen area, so he can cook right along w/ mom..(well, someday, when I actually cook!)
Brigham gots lots of stuff. think mom and dad.. er Santa went a little nutz this year. But its so much FUN!!! Andrew surprised me with some goodies too, even though we said we were not doing much for each other.
(we bought all his stuff , AS we were shopping for family). I like to be surprised, plus I felt guilty picking out stuff for myself. I have so much more fun buying for others.
So we had our family traditional breakfast of home made carmel rolls and egg casserole.
Whatdaya know, I DID cook!!
We left the house a mess, and dropped Brigham off at my moms, so that Andrew and I could go serve at the Family Resource Center. Its a tradition that we go help those in need for a few hours. Sure makes us feel blessed when we come home to a bountiful gourmet meal and tons of gifts. I wish I could have shopped for everyone there. Not to mention, many of the people we talked with as we drove them home, were alone for the holidays. Definately felt good to be able to bring some joy into their day.
We went back to my moms house and opened gifts, for -ever. SHE totally out did herself...(though I say that every year!).
the last gift opened was played with for the rest of the day.. and each day after that....
two Thomas the Train wooden sets. Brigham was in heaven. He threw such a fit, and just sobbed when we had to pull him away for dinner.
We gave in, and didn't make him eat.
We enjoyed a fantastic traditional meal, and great conversation w/ a woman who is an old family friend , whose kids all live far away.
Mom even sent us home, without doing the dishes. I was in shock.
We pretty much did nothing for the next few days. My house looked like a toy bomb exploded.. and I was OK with it.