A visit home...

We left to head to my hometown to visit my family, and to get some professional pictures taken. Here is a picture of Grandma reading to Bug and KM. It was actually a nice 1/2 weekend, spent only with family. No running around--just family time. Had a great time. Saturday afternoon we had professional pictures taken, because it has been 5 years since we have had family pictures taken. We spent almost 3 hours with the photographer! Yikes...I guess that will happen when you have to photograph 16 people in a group, then breakout photo sessions of every family, then individual groups of kids. It wasn't as insane as I thought it would be. All the kids were awesome, and the only meltdown we had was the two month old--and that was because she was hungry. Literally, the other six kids were angels. I was amazed.

Here are some pictures from the 1/2 weekend: Last of the pictures at my Grandma's house. It is on the market, and has since had an offer. Me and my babies on Gram's front step Daddy and Bug holding RK... Grandma helping Bug feed RK At the photo shoot--killin' some time in between shots. My brother and his son L
Daddy playing legos with Bubby and KM

Professional pics to follow soon...

His final journey...

I am going to start this off by telling you a bit about someone I know named John. He is in his early 40's. I don't know him too well--he is the brother of a good friend of mine. I have met him only a handful of times, but know enough about him to know he is an amazing soul. He is losing his battle with cancer, and will be heading to Heaven very soon. His immediate family has been fighting cancer for years...six of seven of their family members have had cancer--everyone except the matriarch of the family. So sad. Please pray for peace for John as he prepares for his final journey, and for the rest of the family just to have peace.

Rewind to August 1, 2008

I am now getting caught up on posting pictures from the recent past. Here are some pictures of my hubby's cousin's wedding, we attended the day before we moved. Enjoy! This is a beautiful garden at the local zoo that we took the kids to for a few hours. A beautiful place, and it was free too!!

At the hotel, the day before the wedding having fun in the pool. L-R: Erin, Andrew, Aunt Tracy, Bubby, Bug, Uncle Michael

Bug and her Auntie, having fun on the water slide!

After the ceremony, waiting for our turn for pictures. (Aunt Tracy and Great Grandma)

Great Grandma with her Grandchildren (minus Matt who was at home awaiting the arrival of his child)

Bug met a friend at the wedding, Maddie

Great Grandma with Chris and Steve, after the ceremony

The cake....beautiful. I am partial though, because we had navy blue, white and silver for our wedding colors too!! Excellent choice on colors, Steve and Chris!!

I love this picture!! (totally posed, though!!)

This is the first of the professional pictures. This is the entire (minus 4 who couldn't make it) family. The Groom is DH's cousin.

Congrats, Steve and Chris!! We are so happy for you both!

Candid shot taken by the professional photographer, taken outside at the reception. I love this picture!

Daddy dancing with his babes...

Dancin' with my little girl...

This picture was taken shortly after Bug vomited in my hand on the dance floor, because she was a crazy girl dancing so hard too soon after her meal. I made her sit for awhile with a glass of water for a break. I can tell in this picture, she has a mouthful of water. Nice.
Dancin' with Cousin Jen

Happy Birthday to my Sister!!!

This is a picture of me and my sister...I was 4 1/2, and she was 2 months old. Was she a chunker or what?? I love you sis...and I am so glad we are great friends! I just wish we lived closer! See you tomorrow!!! I am guessing here, but I think my sister is about six here. She took ballet and tap lessons and loved it. I always thought it was so neat to go to her recitals. (She will probably kill me for putting this picture on here...) Happy 29th Birthday, Baby Sister!!

Knee update: I go in for a MRI on Monday at 8am. I will go in later in the week for an appointment to get the results. My odds for surgery are pretty high though. My kneecap doesn't lay where it is supposed to, and is constantly rubbing on my femur (which is genetic, and nothing can be done about it). In addition, my knee "catches", so when I extend it to walk, it doesn't extend, which almost always means, there is a tear in the cartilage that needs to be removed. I guess we will just see...

Tomorrow morning early, we are headed to my family's house. We are having a family portrait taken, which I am excited about. I am looking forward to having a updated family picture of everyone. I will post it when we get them.

A HOHO Shoutout!

This is another birthday shoutout--this one is to my Dad...who turned, well, ummmm, 'Ahem' 51 today. I love you Dad. You Rock as a Dad, and the best HOHO ever! Hope you had a great birthday!! This picture of my Dad was taken when he was about 7 years old. Man, does my brother look like him. Sorta scary how much they look alike! This is a picture of my Dad in college...Nice looking guy, huh?? Almost "hottie" status!!

This week is a busy one for us. Today was my "free" day...which was kinda nice. Tomorrow, Bug to preschool in the morning, then back home by 9:30 to be here when the carpet measuring guy comes. We bought new carpet for our basement, so they must get an accurate measurement. Then, after dinner, I have bible study. Wednesday morning I have an appointment with a knee surgeon to see what needs (if anything) to be done to my knee. While Bubby and I are at the knee doctor, Bug will be having a playdate with her friends (THANKS A BUNCH, K!!). Wednesday night I am having a friend over to scrapbook and drink margaritas. I wonder what the ratio of completed scrapbook pages to empty margarita glasses will be. My guess is 1:3...but we could surprise ourselves, and actually get some scrapbooking done! After we complete one, possibly two scrapbook pages, and "T" leaves, I have to go empty the basement of toys. Thursday brings preschool, then back home to have the carpet installers start working on the basement. I guess it takes about 5 hours to lay carpet. Thursday night, I have to pack our stuff to our trip to my parents house. We are making it a one day trip though, due to other scheduling issues on Sunday here. Leaving on Friday morning, coming home Saturday night, then finally rest. Wait...before heading to bed, I have to make some kind of dish to take to church on Sunday. After that, rest. Sunday is the day of rest, right??

Have a good week, everyone!

A birthday shout out!

This is a picture of my Mom (when she was about 4) who celebrated her, um, ahem, 40th birthday yesterday. Wasn't she so cute?? I just love this childhood picture of her. Anyway, Mom, I love you so much. Thank you for all you do. You will always be my Mom AND my Best Friend too! We hope you had a wonderful birthday yesterday!!!

As I type, I have one child watching Curious George (Bug), and one child sleeping (Bubby). Bubby is getting sick. He woke up at 5:45am fussing. When I got him, his entire onesie from the neckline to about his bellybutton, was soaked in snot/slobber. Lovely. I am really hoping it is just his 3 big teeth he has coming in, but I kinda doubt it. We had to cancel our play date today, so we are just going to hang out at home today.

Bug is just loving preschool...despite a crying episode when I dropped her off yesterday(???). Yeah, that pretty much ripped my heart out. She cried, and said she just wanted to be with me. She has also been stuffy/runny nose/itchy throat, but I am thinking that is seasonal allergies. I have started giving her Zyrtec, and it seems to work pretty well for her.

I need to request some prayers. I have two good friends whose children are both going to have serious surgeries in the same week in October. "A" is going to have open heart surgery. She is 4. "G" is going to have surgery on his kidneys. He is 2 1/2. Please pray for both of these families. We love both these families, and are just praying for good results for both these children. Pray for God to heal these children, to guide the surgeons' hands, and especially peace for the parents. I can't imagine having my child go into surgery, let alone, such a serious surgery. Prayers for you all.

Not much else going on. Tomorrow hubby and I have dentist appointments at 7:30am. Yes, you read correctly--7:30am. That should be interesting. We have to leave the house at 7:10am, which means the kids have to be up at 6:30am, which means I have to be up at 5:30am. Lovely start to a day. Bug will probably fall asleep at preschool tomorrow. Friday, Bubby has his 15 month well baby checkup. More shots probably. That will also be fun. O-well, what can you do, right? Saturday, we are going to take the kids to the local "apple festival" for a few hours in the morning. The only other thing we may do this weekend (besides hubby probably working), is to try to get some stuff on our walls. I am sick of having empty walls. Anyway, have a good week everyone!!

Has it really been three years already???

This is a picture of my baby Bug in the NICU--One day old. ...and this is a picture of my "baby" Bug this morning before her first day at preschool! Yikes, how time flies. I have to remember to cherish these moments...before you know it, she will be heading to high school.

Here are some more pictures from her first day at Preschool: Before heading into classBug and her teacher, Mrs. Marth

So, after I dropped her off at school, Bubby and I came back home. It was nice to have two hours with just Bubby and I--playing, reading books, and just having time together. I did miss Bug though, and look forward to tomorrow, when I have them both at home again. Anyway, during lunch, we had a conversation about her first day at preschool. It went something like this:

Mommy: "So, how was your first day at preschool? What did you do?"

Bug: "I had a beer, Mom."

Mommy: (laughing hysterically) "WHAT?? What do you mean you had a beer?"

Bug: "Well, we pretended to have a beer. Me and ____ were pretending at the kitchen, and he asked me if I wanted a pretend beer...so I said "SURE".

Ugh...omigosh. Do you think it is too late to pull her out, and keep her home?!? Just kidding...kinda. What the heck??? It is starting already. Yikes. I am already dreading the teen years.

On a unrelated note, we have pretty much unpacked and have everything organized. The only thing we have left to do is put our stuff on the walls. For now, we aren't going to do anymore major improvements till after Christmas. We need time to relax, and enjoy the rest of the summer. This is what almost brought tears to my eyes: We finally got the garage cleaned out enough to get two cars in. Finally, some progress!!

That's about all for now--I am going to make a conscious effort to blog at least once a week, now that things have settled down a bit around here. Enjoy the short week!