Visitor.

Snappy, the snappin' turtle came to visit us on Sunday. Just glad CJ happened to look outside and see him before the kids asked to go outside to play. You know they would have went right to it and tried to touch it. Then we would have made another trip to the emergency room for a severed finger. We had to quarantine the kids to the house (yes, we did supervise a visit so they could see him) until he was removed. The begging and pleading "mommy we promise not to touch him" was relentless but you know curiosity killed the cat - and I'm sure the kids too!

Happy Scrapbook Day!

Yep, it's National Scrapbook Day and I've been at home today scrappin' and thinking about my friends who are scrappin' at Cat's - only the coolest Scrapbook store in our neck of the woods. She carries a good selection of all the latest and greatest in the scrapbook world and I can't wait to start scrappin' there regularly. I finally got Morgan's birth announcements done.

By the way, if you're reading this, you're not getting one. Sorry but there's only so many hours in my day and I made 30 of them and that only covers people that I don't have e-mail addresses for. If you're internet savvy you get to view it online :-)

That's it for now - get scrappin!

Misc Things

First and most important: CHANGE MY E-MAIL!
I sent out a message to most of you a while back but make sure you have the new yahoo address in your address book.

We're settling in, and working out the kinks in a house that idiots built. It's funny to see the stupid things people do when they don't really have any idea how to build a house. Things like:
The kitchen. I've already complained about the cabinet space but it's more than that. The dishwasher is in the corner, so when the door is open (so you can unload it) you cannot access 3 of the 4 cabinets I have. The only bottom cabinet I have is then blocked by the dishwasher door and the two upper cabinets I have I can't reach because they are directly over the dishwasher. Therefore forcing you to unload the diswasher onto the counter top (which is difficult when the counter top is full of dirty dishes) then close the dishwasher door to put the items in the cabinets. It drives me mad and makes me not do the dishes because it's such a pain.

Light switches. The dual light switches in the bathrooms (one switch for the light, one for the exhaust fan) are backwards. The one closest to the door should be for the light and the other one for the fan. Not in our house.
The master bathroom vanity has double doors under the sink and 3 drawers to the right. Not bad, only when the bathroom door is open you cannot open the drawers. The other day I went to get something out of the drawers and of course after 4 inches it slams into the edge of the door so I close the door and now it's dark and so I turn to flip the light switch and of course it's the fan not the light! Aaaahhhh!
Very VERY small things I know, but enough to drive you bonkers!
Rent houses. Agh.

Tanner is still playing ball and having a blast but we'll be glad when it's over. The hour drive is killing me and CJ. Two more weeks.
Grace is her usual pink pretty self.
Morgan is doing good as well. Sleeping about 8-10 hours at night now for the last 4-5 days. Woo Hoo. AND (he seems awful small for this to me but...) no more rocking required. When it's time just put him in his bed turn the mobile on and in a few short minutes he's asleep. It sure does save me a lot of time during the day.

Well, gotta go get some stuff done while he's napping. Toodles.

I'm Back!

online that is. I got cable internet hooked up today. WOW fast!

Well we're moved into the rent house. It's pretty nice. Just as big as our old house and a pretty nice layout. Only pitfall - kitchen. Small, no cabinet space. Which as you know, the kitchen is one of the most important rooms to me (other than my office). I love to cook, I have LOADS of stuff, and now no where to put it. Oh, well. I can do anything for 6 months.

I took Tanner out of Pre-K because the drive is so long, but we're still commuting for baseball 2-3 times each week. 1 hour each way, but only 3 more weeks left.

I'm still unpacking so I better go. Have a GREAT weekend.

$71,398.79

That's how much money will be in my bank account before close of business tomorrow. WOOHOO! We just signed the papers to close on our house. It's officially a done deal. Unfortunately the money will be gone before I know it as we will begin construction of our new house in about 2-3 weeks.

My home is on complete disarray as we are packing and we're moving this weekend. We found a house to rent. Not a cheap one though. In my opinion we're paying out the wazoo for it but oh well. It's close to CJ's work and close to the property so it's the best in the long run.

Morgan has his 2 month old checkup today: 13 lbs, and 22 in. All is well.
Tata for now I've got to get the kids in bed and keep packing. Did I mention that my sister-in-law came over today and helped. She got loads done! THANKS BETH!! You're a lifesaver.

Growth Chart

Diapers:

Size, Newborn: 0-10 days

Size, 1: 11-32 days

Size, 2: 33 days - current. Yep, we've already graduated to size 2 diapers! OMG!



Clothes:

0-3 months for us only 0-6 weeks. Just switched to 3-6 ms clothes. He just doesn't seem that big to me until....I go to see a friend of mine's baby today - she was born 2 weeks after Morgan - and she looks so TINY. I know she's just normal, she's the same size Tanner and Grace were, and that's how I know Morgan is truly my big Chunka Munka.





This picture was taken at 4 weeks old. He's a chunky six weeks old now. Sigh.

Sad, Disappointed, Frustrated

Angry, upset and many other things. That is what I am this week. We've been watching a piece of property now for over a year. My dream place to build our next house. Almost two weeks ago now I drove by and saw a "sale pending" sign on it. Bummer. We started looking for other places. Then, last friday the real estate agent called me and said the contract it was under is no longer and we were first on the list if we wanted it. YIPPEE! He faxed me the restrictions and building requirements (1600 sq ft, 60% masonry, 2-car attached garage). Which made me laugh because he kept calling the lots "a subdivision" when it's really only 5 lots that face a county road. They are not on their own road, there is no HOA, the seller is apparently the "architectural committee" because there is only one other family living there. Whatever. We met all the requirements except maybe the "2-car attached garage" part. We will have a 2-car garage+ but we were going to make it a separate building and attach it via a breezeway, so we wanted to submit our plans and get them approved before we purchased the lot. Anyway, long story short the seller is a MORON! He's moody (according to the real estate agent), a pain in the rear and a complete idiot. He's all of a sudden changing his mind about the requirements because someone came in and built a house that was just over 1600 sq ft then he let a buddy of his buy two of the other lots and build houses on them and they aren't selling. His buddy built a 2,000 sq ft house and a 1900 sq ft house and now he thinks that if anyone builds anything less than that it will cause those houses to not sell and bring their value down. We are talking about the country here! Not a subdivision in the city where everything has to look alike to maintain value. Besides there is a whole road FULL of new houses right behind them and they are all 1600-1800 sq ft! They're all brick, they're all close to the same size, it's not like we're gong to pull in a double-wide trailer and park it next door. MORON! Besides he told CJ that they were only asking $190,000 for those houses and ours will easily be worth that or very close to it. I just want to whack him on the forehead, and kick and scream and pull a Bobby Knight and throw a chair and tell him he's an idiot, but if he wants to not sell those lots because somebody isn't going to build exactly what he thinks should be there then he can keep loosing his butt and flushing his money down the toilet. He's already had these lots on the market for a year how much longet does he want to lose money? AAAAAAHHHHHH!

Now where am I going to live?

Got Milk?

cause I do! You know I would never question the perfection of God's work especially when it comes to a woman's ability to feed her baby the most perfect food, but come on now....
...in the mornings, even though I have nursed him at least once in the night, I am so full that the slightest stimulation causes milk to come spewing out, no suction needed, which results in choking and spitting up and milk all over him and me.
...I get to enjoy that almost painful feeling of let down not only when he's nursing, but also whenever my body thinks I should be nursing him, or when any other baby in the store is crying.
...I am tethered to a bra 24/7 because if you let the girls loose and roll over in bed they think it's time to go and I have a fountain. I hate sleeping in a bra!
Please don't get me wrong, I love breast feeding and I wouldn't choose to do it any other way. I just wish the girls weren't quite so "on alert". haha

On other fronts:
We are making progress with our house. The inspector and the appraiser came out last week and everything seems to be moving along smoothly. I found some duplexes for rent in springtown about 5 minutes from where (hopefully) we're going to build. Yah! An interim place to stay - done. We'll be making an offer on a piece of property this week and we're starting to get things together to start building the new house. I've made arrangements for a storage unit and a PO Box and opened a seperate checking account for the money we will be using to build the house.
Packing is coming along nicely in the house. It's my office and the garage that are going to be the real problems. Thank goodness we have 4 weeks!

That's all for now. Love and hugs!

Moving right along.

Well, I'm trying to keep my head screwed on straight. There's a lot going on but it is going pretty well all things considered. Where to start....

The house. Good news - we have two extra weeks. The closing has been moved to April 30th (it was the 13th). The bad news - we still have no idea where we're going to move to. I went to my friend Shaunery's house today and much to my dismay my favorite piece of property is "sale pending". I've been watching it since last April. I really just wanted to cry. Really now. It's been almost a year and now somebody wants it. Just my luck. The adjacent lot I think is still available and CJ wants to go look at some property down on the north side of Weatherford. So, we'll see. In the mean time I've got to find some place to rent. It's not that rental properties are that hard to find, it's one's that are available for a month-to-month or short-term lease, have a fenced yard and allow pets that are hard to find. The price you pay for having a dog and a cat.

Tanner and Grace. They're doing great. Now that the grandparents are gone and it's just us they are starting to pay more attention to Morgan. They are really helpful. They like to hold him, get diapers for me when I'm changing him and just sit next to us. No problematic issues yet. I'm really blessed with wonderful kids.

Morgan is doing well. He's such a chunk! Makes me smile. Everytime CJ picks him up he says, "You're face is SOOOOO fat!" Makes me laugh. He's eating about every 4 hours and I'm still getting up once or twice in the night. My real test will be this week. Up til now I've had people taking Tanner back and forth to school and I've been able to go back to bed for an hour or two after his 5 or 6 am feeding. That's about to change! There'll be no more going back to bed for me. Say a little prayer.

CJ's doing well. Working, coaching baseball, and gearing up to build us a new house. He's going to be very busy over the next six months. It'll all be worth it in the end but we're going to be VERY busy trying to get everything done. Most waking hours will be spent working on the house so fishing, scrapbooking and just hanging out will get put on the back burner for the next 4-6 months. So remember me every once in a while - the one who fell of the face of the earth :-)

OH SHIT!

My worst nightmare has come true. I have a two week old baby and we're going to be moving in the next 5 weeks. Yep! We got an offer on the house yesterday and it was a good one. Holy crap! Now we have to find a place to move to and pack and we're closing on April 13th. Aaaaaahhhhhh!

On a different note, Morgan is doing great. We had his two week old check up yesterday and he is 10 lbs 3.5 oz now. I'm still nursing every 3-4 hours around the clock and so I'm a little sleep deprived but we're all doing well. Tanner and Grace are both great with him. They're a little less interested in him than I expected but I'm sure that will change when he starts doing a little more than just eatin and sleeping.

Tanner's baseball practice started today. Tanner actually put on his athletic support cup without fussing - yippee!

Have a great week!

Some of you know but...

It's a boy!!

Morgan Eugene Thompson. Born February 18th, at 5:11 am. (I guess he got tired of waiting too!) 9 lbs 7 oz. Whew!

We had a little drama but we're all doing great. I started contracting about 1am saturday night/sunday morning - whatever you want to call it. They were about 15 minutes apart so I decided to wait a little while to see if they were going to go away or not. By 2am I decided to call the doctor. They wanted me to come in and get checked. I woke CJ up and he showered and we went to the hospital. By the time we got to the hospital my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and I was pretty uncomfortable. They got me registered in I told them I was a repeat c-section. At 4:05am I had a couple of contractions while the nurse was in the room with me and she was like "OK, well let me check you. OH Honey! No wonder you're uncomfortable - you're COMPLETE!" WHAT?!?! Well, they were swamped that night with patients and the on-call doctor was actually in the OR with another c-section but that sent everyone into high gear.

They got an IV in for me, drew my blood, sent me upstairs, and the anesthesiologist was like "Hey, I usually wait for your lab work to come back but we don't have time, here are the risks, do you consent?" Of course! "sign here" Wait I'm having a contraction. "no honey, grit your teeth and sign, it doesn't have to be legible, we don't have a minute." Oh! OK. scribble scribble.

They pulled off 3 liters of fluid plus a 9 1/2 lb baby - needless to say I felt like I had lost half of myself.

We're all doing great now. Here are a couple of pics to tide you over.

Drama, Drama, Drama.

Mucus plug - gone.

Mom - frantically leaves Indy and is here early.

Still have WAY too much fluid.

Baby guestimated at 9 lbs 10 oz today.

Doctor is leaving town unexpectedly.

C-Section rescheduled for Tuesday at 6:00 pm.

Belly so big it looks fake.



4 days and counting....

Where to start.

Went to the doctor on friday. They guesstimated the baby at 8 lbs 7 oz and two weeks to go! The doctor did reiterate again that it's hard to tell because I have so much fluid - the baby may not be quite as big as they think. We'll see.

We met with a real estate lady last week and our house is officially "For Sale". We've signed all the papers, they've come out to take pictures, and the other agents in the office are coming out tomorrow morning to tour our place. WooHoo!

I'm painting the nursery on Wednesday. I wasn't going to (I do this every time), but I made some artwork in a zoo theme and it's just not going to jive with the yellow walls. So, I'm off.... I did make all the necessary purchases for the baby last week:

• new bathtub - check
• Dreft so I can wash the clothes - check
• nursing bras and nursing pads - check
• coming home outfit - check
• material for mom to make a diaper hanger while she's here - check

I'm painting the nursery on Wednesday with the help of some girlfriends, one of them is bringing me a bassinet so it will be up that day too. I'm going to have CJ get the newborn baby clothes down so I can wash them this week and I'm going to pack my hospital bag. So, I'm making progress. 14 days to go!

I went scrapbooking on saturday. Left the house at 9am and returned at 1:30am. Whew! My body cannot do that again until after I give birth! I had such a wonderful time but right now that is a little much for me. I took a recipe class and we did 8 recipes in 2 hours and it was AWESOME! It's an ongoing class that they do every first saturday of the month (which by the way is when we all go there to crop) and it's SO FUN. Even though I won't be there in March or April I'm still going to order the kits so I can make the pages. Saturday is also when I did the art projects for the baby's room, and I got several regular pages done as well.

CJ's coaching clinic on Sunday was GREAT! He said he really learned alot and he wanted to go back again. He said the guy instructing had some awesome ideas and was very knowledgable. He was definately glad he went.

Well, gotta go. The laundry is calling me. By the way....

WAY TO GO COLTS!

Has it really been a week?

I guess it has. Time just gets away from me these days. Last friday I had another doctor appointment. This was the first time that I really felt good when I left. The ultrasound tech was a little more social than normal and sounded very positive. Though every other sentence was "look at your baby's rolls!" Yes, I have a feeling that it's not a distortion due to the extra fluid, I really am growing a chubby baby. :-) 20 days to go.

Speaking of 20 days to go. I'm catching flack from a lot of people. No the nursery is not ready. No I don't have any baby clothes washed yet. No I don't have a hospital bag packed yet. No I don't have the infant car seat down and cleaned yet. YES, I PROMISE I WILL WORK ON IT THIS WEEK.

We went to Brownwood this weekend to visit with some friends. About a 2 1/2 hour drive. I did great on the way down because we stopped half way to eat but the drive back was a little more difficult. We had a really good time though. CJ and Clinton went fishing for a while on Saturday - in the 40 degree plus 20mph wind weather - which I think is insane but they like it. More power to them, I'm staying inside.

Sunday afternoon CJ went to interview for a coaching position for Tanner's baseball team and we got the phone call last night "Congratulations Coach Thompson". YAH! The "draft" is tonight at 6:30. It's really just a blind draw to place kids on a team but it sounds good at least. I'm pretty pleased with how things are working. Much more efficient than with football. CJ will be going to a seminar on how to coach 5-8 year olds next sunday (yes, Superbowl sunday) in Arlington. They will provide him with fun ways to introduce the basic skills plus drill ideas and other things. Plus he has a managers orientation and will be taking a CPR class. You know, with football it was just "congratulations you're a coach." THE END. No direction, no instruction, no nothing. Now, CJ wasn't the head coach he was just the assistant but our head coach had never coached flag football before and he didn't get anything more than that either. This is definately better organized.

Well, I'm off to get some things done around the house. Have a great day!

Movin right along.

This weekend was great. Saturday we took Tanner and signed him up for baseball. I'm really excited, but I don't know if I want to say "woohoo" or "holy crap" considering I'm getting ready to have a new baby. The draft is the third week in February (which is when the baby is due) they practice in March and start playing games the first of April. Once again, "woohoo" or "holy crap" - I'm just not sure.

Saturday night 3 of my good friends came over to scrapbook and we had a great time. We cropped from about 5:00 until 1:00am. I got invitations for Tanner's birthday party done, 4 12x12 pages done, and 4 6x6 pages done. Doesn't sound like much and CJ was giving me a really hard time but I decided that the ginormousness (like that word?) of my belly just slows everything down. Plus the 10 times I had to go pee or just get up and walk because my hips were killing me. Oh well, I still had fun.

Then Sunday we watched the football games. I'm really really really really really really really sad the Saints had a bad day and didn't make it but...

GO COLTS!

And, we went outside and started prepping Tanner for baseball season. We got his T out and all the stuff he got for Christmas (bat, glove, helmet, bases, etc) and we practiced hitting and running the bases. He had a really good time. I am excited I just hope it doesn't kill me! :-)

First Ice.

THEN SNOW...

THEN SNOWMEN...
Don't ask about the big stick. Yes, it is what you think it is and I bet you can guess who put it there.
THEN SLEDDING...





CJ and the kids had SO much fun! He took the lid off our turtle sandbox and puched 3 holes in it - one to attache the rope that would be pulled by the lawn tractor and two to make a handle for the kids to hold onto. It was hysterical! CJ would slow down and get the tractor turned around and then let off the clutch in fast gear and whip the kids around in a circle. Grace was cracking up! Then he found the sand piles (left over sand from putting the bricks on the garage) and started pulling them over the piles - they actually caught air a couple of times and LOVED it. They played outside for a good long while. Me, just long enough to take picutres. I'm not so big on the cold, exactly why I love Texas so much. It usually doesn't stay this way for long but we're pushing a week now and the forecast says it's going to be nasty for at least 3-5 more days. I did NOT sign up for this!

On a different note I had another Dr. appointment today with an ultrasound. Still have too much fluid, still have a big baby (guestimated at 6 lbs 15 oz today) and 4 weeks to go. According to my mom baby's should gain about a 1/2 lb each week these last few weeks, that would mean a baby pushing the 9 lb mark for me. Holy Smokes! The doctor doesn't seem the least bit worried about it and I'll continue to go in every week now for a check and an ultrasound (thank God for insurance!). We don't want any early arrivals though - Mom's coming in 4 weeks and I've got a schedule to keep so say a little prayer that I can actually carry a baby that big and that he won't want to come early.

Long time coming.

Yes, I realize that it's January 11th and I'm just now posting Christmas pics. Sorry for the delay, but enjoy.

POKENO turned out really great tuesday night but I can tell I'm nearing the end of my pregnancy. By the end of the night my feet were hurting really bad, but I still had a great time.

Woke up this morning with a cramp in my left calf that hurt so bad I almost cried and still now - 2 1/2 hours later I am limping because it is still sore. I hate leg cramps! Maybe I'll pump up the vitamins and bananas and see if that helps.

WHEW!

I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. CJ's mom and dad were here for a week and we had an AWESOME visit. I didn't log onto the computer one time while they were here (obviously). We visited, played cards/games, hung out - it was so nice. I really wasn't ready for them to leave but I guess we all have to get back to life sometime.

Saturday night we had our second SS exchange and it was great. I love getting to visit with everyone and my gifts were great. I got some flowers for our flower bed (which by the way I'm procrastinating to plant because they smell so good sitting on my kitchen counter!) and some seeds for our garden. Thanks Nuna!!

Sunday CJ, the kids and I just chilled. We went to the grocery as a whole family - which we never do. To Sam's, Walmart, and home - 3 1/2 hours - CJ said "how can we have been gone that long?" I replied "Welcome to my world!" We had a great day. Watched football, ate, took naps. Relaxed.

Now it's monday and CJ's back to work, the kids are playing nicely and I'm trying to clean my house. I'm hosting POKENO at my house tomorrow night - 24 people. I'm baking a pan of regular lasagna, a pan of vegetable lasagna, french bread and for dessert - brownies and pumpkin torte (yellow cake mix with pumpkin & spices, layered with french vanilla whipped topping, pecans, and caramel ice cream topping - YUM!). Needless to say I'll be cooking most of the day tomorrow, so the cleaning must be done today.

That's all for now - Peace. haha

Christmas Eve
For breakfast my intention was to make Christmas Tree pancakes with these cute little red/white and green/white striped chocolate chips I found. However, the mold didn't come with directions and I obviously couldn't figure out how to get the pancake out of the mold and cook it properly, so we settled for snowmen...

The rest of the day we played games and watched movies. After Grace woke up from her nap we let the kids open presents from my mom and dad and from my sister. They had a blast!

Then we gave them their special Christmas Eve PJ's - Tanner's was "Cars" themed and Graces were "Dora" themed. We watched The Grinch and CJ read the "Texas Night Before Christmas" and they were off to bed!

Christmas Day

Wow! The kids were only up a little earlier than normal - about 6:30. They were SO excited, but surprisingly patient. One of the things I did was make a jewelry box for Grace. I thought it turned out pretty good and she loves to put all her new jewelry in it!

The second picture is the top of the box. Sorry for my shodow, but I had to turn the flash off because the clear coat was causing a huge glare and I couldn't figure out how else to get the picture. Anyway, after the present opening was done we spent the rest of the day playing games, watching movies and eating junk food. FUN! I'm going to try and get a little slide show of pictures posted tomorrow so stay tuned....

Fun, Fun, Fun

Wow! Where to start?

Friday
I took the kids to CJ at about 1pm and I got a manicure, pedicure, eyebrow wax, and my hair cut. WooHoo! I'm a whole new woman! Afterwards we all met up at Walmart and went grocery shopping, went home, had pizza, and watched a movie.

Saturday
We got up, had biscuits and gravy for breakfast, then we headed to Cabella's to goof off. CJ had a couple of gift certificates to burn and the kids love walking around looking at all the animals and fish. We spent about 2 1/2 hours there and CJ got a couple of fishing things but he couldn't find what he really wanted so CJ, Tanner and myself all got new shoes too. Thanks to CJ for sharing his "free" money.
Then we headed downtown to Sundance Square. The kids got to talk to Santa....

Unlike Tanner his first year, Grace ran right up, said "Hi Santa!" and climbed in! She was too funny. They both were very excited.

When we were done we went to Razzoo's for dinner. Even though I intentionally got something that was on the mild side I found out that cajun food is not good for this pregnant lady!

Then we drove around and tried to look at Christmas lights, but couldn't find any of those super spectacular neighborhoods so we went home. A very fun day all in all.

I know, I know

Long time no blog. Almost two weeks - shame on me. Not too busy, I just haven't made the time to do it. But, here's what I've been up to....

Everybody has been wanting to see a picture of me so here's one from a couple of weeks ago:

I know, I know - huge. :-) What can a woman do? Really just a little bigger than the first two times so I guess that's normal. You should see everyone' s face though when they ask me when I'm due and I tell them February 19th! They're like "Oh" in a nice high pitched tone that sounds more like "really are you serious?" Anyway...that's me and I love it!

We had our annual MOMS Club Christmas Dinner last week and we did a purse exchange. It was at El Paseo's and it was a lot of fun. We had 16 people there and I was a part of the only major battle over who will go home with what purse. It was all good fun..

Tanner's last day of school is tomorrow and they are having a Christmas party and book exchange. We're going to take the kids downtown to Sundance Square on saturday to look at all the Christmas lights, possibly see Santa (depends on the length of the line) and to have dinner. I'm really excited. Got all kinds of goodies planned for us for Christmas Eve. I'm really excited about starting some traditions with our kids. Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas if I don't get back on here before the big day!

Love and Hugs to all who read, safe travels for all who will be traveling, and remember that it's the "who" that is important this holiday season, not the "what".

Check List

1. New brakes and rotors on my car this week. CHECK.
2. Christmas cards done. CHECK.
3. Paper bag books for great-grandparents, VERY nearly done.
4. Made LAST payment on school loan (10 years worth!). CHECK.
5. Seems like 5,000 "$10" gifts for various Christmas parties bought. CHECK.
6. Christmas shopping done. CHECK.
7. 6X6 pages to update the grandparents scrapbooks -not even started.

Not bad considering. I don't know if the 6x6 albums will make it or not, but I'm going to try. Have a GREAT weekend!

Gotta Love it.

77 and beautiful yesterday, 25 and sleet/snow today. In just a few short hours our temperatures plummeted more than 50 degrees. Only in Texas I think. Anyway, we are making the most of it. Tanner of course had to go outside and play. He would go outside for 10 or 15 minutes and come in for an hour, then do it all again - about a half a dozen times today. Poor Grace wanted to go with him, but she's on an antibiotic and not feeling well so I wouldn't let her.


We also got our decorations and tree up over the weekend. The kids had a really great time and we only broke one ornament - yah! The countdown begins tomorrow!

HEAVEN.

That's what this is....

Simply heaven. Chocolate Truffle Hershey's Kisses wrapped in dark chocolate. Gifted to me by my girl Angel and I can't believe I denied myself this simple pleasure for 3 whole days before opening them.
Check out the rest of my goods....I can't wait to use them!

This apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.

Who really needs the cake or cookies when you've got dough and batter? That has always been my motto. I truly could care less about the finished product just mix up the ingredients and give me a spoon. And so it is with Grace too. Gotta love her.

The Truth is out! Thanks Angel!

Another quiz from eSPIN-the-Bottle... The eSPIN Personality Test MY RESULT:Cucumber You know - as in "cool as a cucumber." Because there's no cooler vegetable than you are. You've got a great attitude going on - friendly, laid-back, open to new experiences. Anyone should want to hang out with you, and if they don't - well, that's their problem, not yours. Just let it roll off your back. We're pretty sure you do that anyway. Don't be afraid to show a little attitude every once in a while - it's cool being cool, but it's also pretty nice to get your way and influence the people around you. A little bit. We wouldn't want you to lose your cucumber-ness. Take This Quiz!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Here are some pics from Tanner's "Thanksgiving Feast" he had at school this week. CJ, Grace and I met him for lunch and a small program. It was very cute. Although I had to keep CJ in line. We're sitting at the table and they are serving food and CJ says, "Is this it? I thought we were coming here for lunch? Where's the rest?" Granted, it was a meager 1/2 cup (literally like the measuring cup) of stew, a 1 inch square of corn bread and a tiny bowl of marshmallow fruit salad - but still - we're sitting at a table with another family, and what did he expect really? After "the look" and a reminder to use his quiet voice and to be thankful for the little things we enjoyed the rest of the hour. :-)

On Thursday, I cooked - yah me! I LOVE to cook so it was a really fun day for me. I made homemade noodles, green beans, stuffing, Sugar Cream Pie and Pumpkin Pie. Brian and Beth did the turkey, rolls, and mashed potatoes. YUM!!! We all had a really great day. The guys worked on Brian and Beth's house a little, the kids played and Beth and I attempted to relax.

What I am thankful for....

There are so many things. Where do I start?

I am thankful for my family. Both extended and immediate. I'm thankful that I have such a good relationship with my parents and I hope one day I have that same kind of relationship with my kids. I am thankful for my sister. I am glad that we are friends and I look forward to the years ahead. I am thankful for my in-laws. They are truly the best. One could not ask for a better "second set" of parents. I am thankful for all the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins with which I share so many fond memories.

I am thankful for a few good friends! Where would a girl be without them. Through good times and bad, fun, anger, sorrow, the loss of loved ones, the birth of new babies - there's nothing like a great girlfriend. Thanks girls!

I am thankful for my kids. Tanner and Grace. What would I do without them. I have only vague memories of life before them and I wouldn't trade them for all the "extra time" in the world. They make me laugh, they make me cry. They fill me with such love it's almost indescribable. I love to watch them learn, I love to watch them grow, I look back and smile - I think ahead and wonder. And the baby on the way - I just can't wait to meet "it". (really wanted to put "him" but I'll resist - I just have such a strong feeling) Will it be a boy or a girl? What will it's personality be like? What will it's temperment be? Will it resemble CJ or me? How will the kids grow and bond together? How will it change the dynamics of our family?

Most of all I am thankful for CJ. As tears of joy fall from my face onto the keyboard as I type it's hard for me to express the amount of love and emotion that fills me when it comes to him. He is perfect for me in every way. He fits me like a glove. He knows what I want and need without me saying anything. He knows when I am sad, and knows how to help me through it. He knows what makes me happy and makes that a priority in his life. He loves me unconditionally, he always puts me first, he makes me feel so special that I can only hope that I do the same for him. We laugh, we play, we have very frank and candid discussions, we work together to raise our kids the best way we know how, we yearn for a little alone time (I know, maybe in about 20 years). The way he wears his heart on his sleeve, his honesty, his integrity, his character. He makes me a better person. I love him with all my heart and every ounce of my being.

Shopping Frenzy!

I LOVE Christmas shopping! Last week I hadn't even started and after three major trips this week I am about 2/3 of the way done! I love sales, I love shopping, I love doing it all NOT on the credit cards! That's our goal this year and so far it's working out nicely. The kids are going to have so much fun this year. It's not even Thanksgiving and I'm already so excited I can hardly contain myself! No, I haven't started decorating. That's a comittment I make that I'll never do that until after Thanksgiving, but the day after - watch out baby! I hope you all are having a great week too!

Slow and Steady.

Not really what CJ had planned when he started but that's how it's turning out to be. We're hoping only one more weekend on the brick and we'll be done. Here's the progress picture from the end of weekend 2:



Brian came over and helped and Tanner was a very big help to CJ too. He was so cute and did such a good job. He scooped mortar out of the wheel barrow and put it where CJ needed it and he stacked bricks for him and he picked up trash from around the yard.

Not a whole lot going on this week. I'm going to play Pokeno on Tuesday - YAH me! I started about 5 or 6 months ago and it is SO much fun. We play the second Tuesday of every month and it'll be my turn to host it in January. I can't wait! And, I have a PartyLite show on Thursday for my friend Stephanie (whose house burnt down in August) - in her NEW house - YAH Steph! Have a GREAT week!

Awesome yet Exhausting.

WOW! I had an awesome turnout for the first night of my open house. I had 14 people come by and purchase products - YAH! But now I'm so exhausted that I must go to bed so I can make it through tomorrow.

Sweet Dreams.

Busy. Busy.

Here are the kids on Halloween....Grace, Lily, Tanner:

They had SO much fun! In other news our neighbors barn burnt down the other day, we had fire trucks everywhere! Everything is fine for us but it was definately too close for comfort.
CJ and Brian worked all day on Saturday and Sunday putting brick on the garage. YUP! I said it - the brick is finally going on the garage. You know, when we built this thing CJ said, "it might be a year before we get the brick on it." I told him he was out of his mind if he thought that I was going to let that thing sit there for a year without the brick - that was 3 1/2 years ago.

But since he's decided to do it himself instead of paying someone else to do it we'll have the money to put the garage doors on too. We're getting closer and closer to being able to put the "For Sale" sign up!!!!

How Fun!

Wow! We had a blast "trunk" or treating last night. We went to Brian, Beth, and Lily's and then went to their church. Tanner was a firefighter, and Grace was a bumble bee. (Pics will be here shortly, but for now I'm at Beth's mercy because I forgot my camera! Can you believe it?! Too much going on when I was trying to get ready to go)

Tanner did a really good job saying "trick or treat and thank you" this year. Last year he would not speak and barely got close enough to the people for them to put candy in his bag. We've come a long way baby. Grace caught on REAL fast! About half way through she was not only getting candy from each "trunk" she was trying to get candy from each person at each trunk! And by the end she was holding her bag open to any adult she could find - haha!

Having a safe environment at the church is great, especially for us because we don't live in a neighborhood, but I sure do miss those door to door days. It's just not quite the same.

Happy snacking, and eat a piece of chocolate for me!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

So many pictures so little time! I'm trying to get all my pics off my camera and into my computer and there's over 200 of them! Aaaaahhhhh! (Note to self: download pics more often.)

We've been having lots of fun. CJ's mom and dad were here for a few days. Dave is gone now, but Jan is staying for about another 10 days. Wish Dave could have stayed longer. We all already miss him.

We're trick or treating with Brian, Beth, and Lily tonight. I'm getting ready for our "end of the season party" for the football team this coming saturday, CJ and Brian are going to brick the garage this weekend (YAH!), and my PartyLite open house is next weekend. BUSY, BUSY.

Hope you all have a safe Halloween with lots of TREATS!

What a wonderful weekend!

Saturday - We won our football game (oh, we're not supposed to keep score in flag - but I do!) We came home, relaxed and then my girlfriends Shaunery and Jennifer came over and scrapped until 1am! We had a blast!! Definately need to do that more often.

Sunday - Was dedicated to birthdays and cakes. We went to celebrate Angel's daughter Savannah (5 yrs old) and Misty's daughter Elize's (8 yrs old) birthdays and I supplied the cakes. I started the cakes at 7:30am and finished at 1:15pm (did I mention that we were supposed to be at Angel's by 2:00 and it takes about 50 minutes to get there?). Needless to say I was stinky and unmake-uped (is that a word?), but the cakes turned out good.





















We got there about 15 minutes late, but we had a blast! The kids had a great time in the bounce house they rented. Even the BIG kids. Somehow CJ, Jason, Darius, and a few others managed to play a game of tackle football inside the bounce house! HA
And best of all I got to hang with my girlfriends who I never get to see anymore! It was really nice and made me miss the "old days" when nobody had to work and we could hang out whenever we wanted to. HUGS to the LIFESAVERS!!

I'm so excited!

...that Tanner is not only playing football now, but he's lovin' it and having fun! He's blocking - he's tackling (sort of) - he's running the football during practices - and he's wearing the coaches out wanting to be the center and hike the ball. HA! His little legs are so short that no kid can reach down there to get it, if the football even fits through his legs - LOL. In the interest of winning it wouldn't be the smartest thing to put him in as center because he's not very quick at it, but (spoken from the heart of his mother) I sure would love for him to get to do it once before the season's over. Even just for one set of downs.

...that I'm half way through my pregnancy. Yep, I'm 20 weeks! Can you believe it? Not that I'm rushing it - I truly LOVE being pregnant, and sometimes my pregnant hormones get the best of me knowing that this is going to be the last time. Right now I'm just trying to enjoy and savor every minute.

...that I got to visit with my mom and dad this weekend - even though it was only 24 hours. I miss them alot. They were on their way back to Indiana after visiting with my sister and seeing the new baby. I probably won't see them again until February. Bummer.

Not a lot going on this week, but I am working on a few scrappin' projects. Maybe I'll get some pics posted in a couple of days. Have a GREAT week!

TEACHER APPLICANT

(stole this from my friend Jen)
After being interviewed by the school administration, the teaching prospect said, "Let me see if I've got this right:
"You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning.
"You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride.
"You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job.
"You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the state exams.
"You want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card.
"You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps.
"You want me to do all this and then you tell me... I CAN'T PRAY ?"

God bless all our teachers, and all they try to do for our kids. Remember to show them how much you appreciate them every once in a while! Thanks Jen!!

YIPPEEEE!

I just paid $1.99 for gas!!!!!!

A round of drinks on me!!

Just remember to make mine a virgin. GREAT news all around yesterday!
First, I had my last appointment with the specialist. Yep, I said LAST. He did a very in depth ultrasound to look at the heart and as far as he can see everything is OK. So, after all the emotional turmoil we went through it appears as though we have a PERFECTLY HEALTHY baby. According to the calendar I'm 18 weeks 4 days, but he measured at 19+ weeks and weighing in at a whopping 10 oz!

In other parts of the country - I'm an aunt again! My sister had her baby yesterday at 6:09 our time, 17 in. and 5 lbs 3oz. Welcome to the world Robbie! For those of you wondering his real name is Robert Arnet (don't ask - it's a like 4th generation family name and I told Sarah I was going to call him Arnie - that does not make Scott happy. I may have to do it anyway just to torture him, XOXO)

So CELEBRATE!

sit down.

HE PLAYED! HE PLAYED! HE PLAYED! HE PLAYED! HE PLAYED!

OK, we bribed him, but still! Didn't think the bribe would work. We told him if he played in the game we would take him to get two new HotWheels. I asked him on the way to the game if he was going to play -- he said "no." Then low and behold at game time there he is on the field!!! (He's the one on the end looking this way) Not only did he play - he played the WHOLE game. He didn't come out one time, even in the face of adversity. I didn't know until afterwards, but CJ said there was one kid on the other team that was picking on him pretty hard. Just kept pushing him down and was just a little relentless. CJ said Tanner cried once, but never asked to leave the game. I'm SO proud of him!!

Check it out!!!

Each week on Thursday our cheerleaders come over to the field after our practice and do a little pep rally for us - which consists of about 3-4 cheers and they give the boys little treat bags. Well, the football moms have taken turns making goodie bags for the girls and this week it was my turn.....

WooHoo! The one on the left is the front and the one on the right is the back. Best of all I made them for a mere $3.50 per girl and that includes the snack I put inside!!! GO STINGERS!

Enough to bring you to tears...

or at least enough to bring a pregnant lady to tears. We all know that I'm a crier so it should not surprise you that a very thoughtful gift brought me to tears, but -wow- I'm SO pregnant and have SO many hormones! Twice a year the MOMS Club that I belong to does a Secret Sister gift exchange. It lasts for 3 months and gives you an opportunity to get to know someone in our group a little bit better. Check out what my Secret Sister did for me.....

In case you cannot read it in the pic it says:
"Hey Staci, As you are soon expecting your Baby Ruth or Reese's you'll receive Snickers from your friends about how big your Mounds are getting. At least your husband will admire your Whoppers. Remember what they're for which is the Milky Way for your new Junior Mints. Your PayDay soon will come when you're under the Crunch of labor then out will pop your Almond Joy. That's when your job should earn 100Grand from growing your Twix to 3 Muskateers."
Is that not the cutest thing or what?!?! And it keeps me in chocolate - at least for a while. :-)

Prophetic?

Yesterday I was cleaning out a folder of stuff for our new house, some old drawings, paint schemes, etc. Anyway, I threw out one paint scheme that had been for Tanner's room and he found it. He brought it to me and said, "Mom, I don't want you to throw this out because we have to paint the baby's room this color and put a big boy bed in it so I can sleep with my new baby brother."
AND, yesterday while I was at Michael's taking advantage of their 5/$1 paper sale (53 sheets later...) I found my self wanting to buy baby boy papers.
Prophetic? We'll see. I haven't had a real strong feeling until now, but my gut is it's a boy. We'll see if that changes.

Nothing.

new at least.

• Grace has a cold.
• Tanner's still not playing football.
• I'm still a happily growing pregnant woman and lovin' it.
• CJ's still working and fishing, and wishing Tanner was playing football.
• We're still trying to get the brick on the garage so we can sell our house.
• And, I know it's been a week since the season finale but have I mentioned that I'm so stinkin excited that Lukas won Rock Star SuperNova that I could do cartwheels!!!! I must admit that I was an addict. He was a freak to look at ( wears more make-up than me), but close your eyes when he sings and admit that he has a phenominal voice! It may not be your style, but it's perfect for that type of music and that band.

Signing off..... a proud member of the Rossi Posse!

No Dice.

Did he play?

That is the question on many minds. Can you guess the answer? "For $1,000 the question is - Did he play?"
Although he got lots of encouraging words from the coaches son (which by the way I thought was very cute)....

This is as close as he got to the football field....

He says he's going to play "on a different day". We'll see. We have practice tonight and team pictures and a game on saturday so wish us luck!

Happy Birthday Lily!

September 6th was my niece's birthday. She's 3 now! We celebrated by having a party at the park and it was GREAT! Beth asked me to make the cupcakes for her party, and they turned out pretty cute.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILY!

Pea Soup.

Ever contemplated painting your walls this color?


Well, I did and I LOVE it!
Check
It
Out
::
::
V


The long wall is the only one that's the real dark green. The other walls, the kitchen and hallway are about 3 shades lighter. I positively LOVE it and CJ thinks it's mediocre.

First Day of School.

Yeah - something besides football! But, never the less, still about Tanner ;-) I'm sure one of these days something will happen with the rest of us! Anyway, Tanner's first day of school was yesterday. It felt really weird dropping him off. It's not like I've never left him before. I didn't feel like bursting into tears or anything. It was just a very weird feeling. I was nervous that he wouldn't cooperate (like in football practice), but he did great! He was so excited when I picked him up. He showed me his projects...
and told me all about his day. And he keeps asking when he gets to go back! I'm so excited for him! My baby is growing up! And, the whole time (all 3 1/2 hours) Tanner was at school all Grace would say is "where's Tanner?" They are really close and I'm glad, but she sure missed him.

Progress.

Wow. When they say "take it in baby steps" they really mean it. Tanner is making progress at football practice, but it is definately in baby steps. Last Thursday he was excited to go, assured me that he was going to practice, put on his flags when we got there and as soon as the coached started giving instructions that was the end. (sigh)

Here he is standing close to the team, with his flags on, but still refusing to participate.

Yesterday he put his flags on and actually participated in some of the drills. He had fun lining up on the offensive line and pushing CJ back (that's Tanner on the end in the grey)...

but when they switched to other drills Tanner again refused to participate. They did one drill where they had the kids one-on-one and one was running the football and the other one tried to pull his flags. On the way home I told Tanner how proud of him I was that he played and how good he did. When I asked him why he stopped he said, "I don't want to pull anybody's tags and I don't want them to pull mine." Oh. Well now, that is the whole point of this game isn't it? We'll keep being patient and hoping for more baby steps....The first game is this saturday!