A fun sunday

We went to the early service again today so that we could get home early to hang out with Val and Lucas this afternoon. Maggie enjoyed sunday school again but when I went to pick her up she said, "mom, we didn't even do a craft today!" and had a bit of disgust in her voice, and the teacher was standing next to her. I am not sure what they did today b/c she didn't even have a story paper like she ususally does, but she seemed happy so I am just glad she had fun. Owen also did better today, joe went to drop him off and I saw them walking into his class, he was behind Joe and he walked in the class and once he realized where he was he did a total circle and ran back out. He cried a bit they said but when we picked him up he was happy and playing so I am hoping before too long he will be happy to go like Maggie is. When we got home Val, lucas, and Gary came over. I was so glad to get to see Val and catch up some. It was also nice to meet Gary who I have heard so much about and of course to see Lucas. He and Maggie hit it off and played great the whole time. She called him "her friend" and he called her "that girl" most of the time.







Lucas is very funny and gets it honestly...you know what I mean if you know Val. I am hoping they can come back soon so we can hang out longer since they didn't get to stay too long today. They left around 3 and Joe headed off to go play basketball with Nick for an hour or so. He went to Lowes and if you know Joe and Lowes he never comes home empty handed. :) Well, he pulled in the drive way with the bed of his truck full of all kinds of things, one of which was this......

















I guess they had a bunch of stuff marked on clearance and since we needed a grill for this summer he decided to get one while they were on sale. I was sort of hoping we could get a green egg grill, like Johnny and Wendy have but I am he will cook up good steaks on this one too.

We are heading over to Nick and Neila's tonight for dinner and Neila and I may go to swim with the kids tommorow at the local indoor pool. This Thursday I go to sign Maggie up for preschool in the fall. I cannot belive she is old enough to go to preschool already. I am glad it's only 2 days a week for 3 hours because I couldn't stand her being gone anymore than that.

Happy Birthday to Me!

This week has been alot of fun with mom and Dad here. I got a ton done which was nice, although there is still quite a bit to do before my house is totally in order. The kids loved having Mimi and Jaja here all week to spoil them to death. This week I get to help them adjust to not having a playmate 24/7 and getting cookies after breakfast! Dad finished up the basement drywall for Joe so that it is ready for the guy to come in this week to tape and mud so that was really nice. Mom and I went out shopping some, and of course I took her to Cinnabon. I Wednesday I went to Neila-Susan's office to interview for a PRN position. They were wanting me 1 day a week but I told them right now I was really just wanting a weekend here and there and to fill in when someone is on vacation. Thankfully, she told me that sounded fine and I could come in a few days next month to see how things are run and then could just pick up shifts whenever I want. So for now that will probably just amount to a 4 hour saturday shift every month, which is just fine with me. It will be nice to get out and get my skills cleaned up some plus I am working on becoming a certified lactation consultant so this will help me get some of the hours that I will need to sit for the test.

After the interview I took 10 tubs of clothes to a kids consignment store in Louisville. I was there probably 2-3 hours with them looking through everything and they took about 7 tubs worth of clothes. I was totally thrilled when they gave me my check for $600 dollars for my stuff they took!! And the 3 tubs left were nice stuff that was just not the season they were buying so I can probably sell it also in a few months. So that was a nice surprise to come into. Thursday night Mom and Dad took me out to eat to Johnnny Carrinos' for my birthday and it was great. We discovered that Frankfort has tons of good restaurants and it's only about 15 minutes away so we can get there quicker than going into Louisville. Joe got home from Alabama on my birthday (friday) and I picked him up at the airport and we went out to eat at PF Changs and then to see the movie "The number 23". I like it but he thought it was goofy. Mom and Dad stayed until today and headed home after we all ate breakfast at the Cracker Barrell. We didn't get much done today, just ran errands and played with the kids mostly. Tommorow, my roommate from college, Val, her little boy, Lucas, adn her boyfriend are coming to visit so I am SOOOOO excited to see her. I haven't seen Lucas since he was about 6 months old and she's never seen either of my kids so it will be great to get together with her. She is so much fun so now that we live closer I hope we get together more. Maggie is excited to meet Lucas and get to play with him too. Well, I am off to bed, we are going to the early service tommorow so that means getting everything together by 845 am.

Fun in the snow

This past week we spent trying to get things a little more together around here, although I didn't accomplish much. Joe took off on Friday but spent most of the day with Nick taking signs to people who are selling their home through their new business. (you can check out their website at fsbolocal.com and go to KY, or area code 40065) Joe's parents and brother came up that evening and we went out to eat at Mark's Feed Store which is one of Joe and I's favorite places to eat, so we were glad to have an excuse to go eat there. Saturday we didn't have much planned, their trip got cut short though since Joe's dad got sick and they ended up leaving that afternoon to head back home so that he could see his doctor. It snowed quite a bit that day so we just stayed in and kept warm and played with the kids. Joe and I had been craving PF Changs (our new favorite place to eat) so around 6 I headed out to Louisville to brave the snow and pick up carry out. This is normally about a 30 minute drive from our house or so......by the evening the roads were pretty bad and it took me 2 hours to get there and back home. The food was great as usual, but I don't know if it was worth all that drive time! We got up this morning and decided to go to the early service at church which is at 9. We ususally go to the 10:30 one, but thought we'd get our day going. Church was really good and Maggie had fun in class. When I went to pick her up the teacher said, " she is sure a talker" Turns out Maggie had piped in when they asked what everyone was thankful to God for and told them she was thankful for all her dogs........lucky, penny, clifford, and peanut. Well, the teachers are now thinking that Maggie lives in a dog pound so when she told me that I cracked up and told the lady that all these dogs are stuffed. She thought it was so cute adn said Maggie went on and on about how they bark all the time and showed them how each dog barked. How funny is that. Owen didn't enjoy his class as much since it was just him for the first half or so. Attendence was low today with all the snow and ice, plus the 1st service is always lower too. He was okay after another kids showed up to his class though. We were home from church a little after 10:30 which felt so weird, but it was nice to have the rest of our day.

We got the kids all bundled up and Joe took them out to play in the snow. I believe this is their first time of playing out in the snow really. How funny is that since we lived in Illinois for like 3 years.





I couldn't find their gloves anywhere so I improvised with some of mine, Maggie ended up ditching hers before too long though.



They had fun, althogh Owen kept falling face first in the snow since he was so bundled up. He was pretty mad about it by the time we went in as you can see.














Joe and Maggie made a little snowman















and Maggie insisted we bring it inside and put him in the freezer.


(you can see him behind her to the left) She told me we could never take him out because he would melt like frosty. So if you come to our house, now you know why there is a red eyed snowman in our freezer.


After a lunch of some hot chilli the kids went to bed and so did I. When I woke up Owen was standing by the bed and Maggie was in bed with me. I slept longer than expected and Joe and Owen had gone to get haircuts, which look really cute.
Owen got a sticker this evening and put it right between his eyes and would not let me take it off. He had it on for several hours before I took it off him as I put him to bed. He is so silly, and looked so goofy but he seemed so proud of it. (he must have known it said AWESOME on it)

















Nick, Neila, and Carson came over tonight and Neila brought dinner which was delicious. We had fun hanging out with them and the guys are now downstairs finishing up the drywall. Joe is going to have a guy come in this week to do the taping and mudding and it will be about ready after that.
Joe heads out to Alabama tommorow for the week so Mom and Dad are coming up here to spend the week so that I don't have to stay home alone all week since I HATE staying home alone at night. I hope to get alot done while they are here, I am going to go through all my tubs of baby clothes from the time Maggie was born and weed out ALOT of them and take them to a consignment shop. I also have a hair appointment in Lexington with the guy who did my hair like 4 years ago when we lived there. I called up my old salon and couldn't believe he still worked there, so I will be excited to see him again and get some highlights. Well, hope you all have a fun week!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

We have had a fun Valentines Day here in our new home. We decided to have Nick, Nelia, and Carson over for dinner since we both were short on childcare. The kids and I headed out to the store this morning and they, of course, were dressed up in their Vday outfits and looked so cute. Maggie was adorable and wished everyone she saw a Happy Valentines Day, Owen on the other hand was wearing his "most eligble bacholer" outfit but would not have gotten chosen from the way he acted. He wanted to ride the "penny"truck, get a balloon, eat a bananna, and get some juice from the time we walked in walmart until we got home. And since he got to do none of them, he was not very happy during out shopping trip. He was very happy to get back home and get some lunch and go down for his nap. Since we have been in our new house his sleeping problems are over (THANK GOODNESS!!) He is sleeping 12-13 hours a night without waking a bit and giving me a good 3 -3.5 hour nap a day. It took him about 3 nights to figure out we weren't coming when he screamed and each night he screamed for us for about 2 hours but just like "the profesionals" say.....3rd night is a charm. So life is great here once again for ALL of us.

So anyhow....back to our Valentines Day.............while the kids napped I made our baked steak and got the rest of our meal ready and when they woke up we made our valentines cake that Maggie has been talking about.










We couldn't find my heart shaped cake pans so we had to make a circle cake and turn it into valentines day cake.









After we made the big one I gave each of the kids a top from the cakes that I was going to toss out and let them decorate them.

















They had a blast and Owen had more sugar today than I think he's had his entire life.















After they got cleaned up we finished up getting dinner ready in time for everyone getting here and we all stuffed ourselves. Neila and I got gift certificates to Z salon, which is this awesome salon here in Louisville, so we are excited to go take a day adn get pampered. I hope to get some pics of the house on here this week, it is not totally quite all in order though but it will give you the idea.

Nick and Joe have been working 3rd shift trying to get our basement finished. Luckily the hammering and sawing doesn't keep the kids up since they are 2 floors away, I on the other hand am right above them so I don't go to sleep unil they are done. Here is a picture of them putting in the insulation the other night.





Maggie was so cute after church on sunday, she went right in her classroom and seemed to really enjoy it again, when I came to pick her up she had a rolled up napkin in her hand and looked so excited. She said, "mom, i have something for you." She opened up her little napkin and inside were 2 candy hearts that were sticking to the napkin. She said, "i licked them but didn't like them so I saved them for you and daddy." I thought it was about the cutest thing ever. She must have been awfully sweet in class because the teachers all went on and on about how adorable she was. Her aunt amanda taught her to say "you go girl" which she loves to say to everyone and it is so funny so I am not sure if she told the teachers that or not, it is hard to tell. Owen did okay in his class too, we weren't so sure at first since when Joe dropped him off he took his bottle and blanket and hid behind a swing in the corner adn wouldn't come out. (we watched through a one way window) But when Joe went back to check on him later he was holding the bag of pretles and handing them out to everyone so he became popular pretty fast. ;) Neila and I are trying out a gym this week that I think I may join, they have a trainer there all the time to help you out which is nice and we are going to try out the pilates class this weekend so that shoudl be interesting. I figure it can't be harder than that kickboxing class my sis drug me to!!

Movin' In!!!!

So I got a call this morning that our stuff is here in KY and ready to be moved in......TOMMOROW!!! We really were not ready for it to be that soon but didn't want to put it off a day longer so we are getting moved in tommorow morning. I am so excited, Joe will be pretty busy at work so mom is coming down tonight to keep the kids for me while I take care of the movers tommorow. We won't have internet for about a week so I may not post for awhile, but I hope to get a few new pics of the house on here tommorow. Wish us luck, they are going to be touching up a few things at the house tommorow and the building inspector comes all while we are being moved in so I will probably be trying to keep everyone out of each other's hair. Fun.
We got some snow here last night so the kids and I just bummed around a little. We went to Walmart and printed out pictures to send in to the Regis and Kelly most beautiful baby contest yet AGAIN. I have sent my kids in since Maggie was born and every year I get so annoyed when I see the winners and they aren't nearly as cute as my kids. :) This is Maggie's last year to qualify so maybe this will be her lucky year. She would be a great little model for them now since she loves being in front of a camera........Owen on the other hand would probably get fired after they tried to photo him if he won. Unless they have a way to glue his feet to the ground.
Well, as of tommorow we are once again home owners!!

Back to hotel life

I am sitting here back in our hotel while Owen naps and Maggie is playing with her sticker book. I don't think I'd care if I ever saw another hotel again! The kids and I headed back to Louisville on Sunday despite the snow storm. We went out to eat for Amanda and Mom's birthday before we left town since we weren't sure if we would be back to WV before their birthdays. Amanda and Maggie both wore the jackets they got each other.









Our house is really coming together. All they really have left is to put down the carpet which is being done today and tommorow and then it will be ours!! They finsihed the steps this past week which look awesome, they are oak with some stain on them which looks great (Joe picked out all that, I couldn't tell any differece in anything at the wood place), they are supposed to put a carpet runner down the steps which we hate to do since they are so pretty but with the kids I think it's a no brainer. I am going to have a hard enough time keeping Owen from jumping from the catwalk let alone sliding down the steps. We have kept busy this week picking out stuff for the house and getting all the new services set up. Today I took the kids for their Valentines pictures. They turned out really cute. I will post them when the picture people send them to me, but here are a few shots of them before we left today.





















I don't guess anything else new is going on here with us, Owen is really talking like crazy....it's like he totally understands everything you say to him, of course that doesn't always mean he listens. haha. He is so funny sometimes, last week he woke up in the middle of the night (again) and began his normal sing-songy yell for mooooommmmaaaa (mama). Amanda has this melody down perfect. After several minutes of yelling and me not coming he got totally quiet. I thought for sure he had given up and was going back to sleep when the noise from his room began again. Only this time it was "MIIIIIMIIIIII". (mimi, which is my mom) I guess he sat there for a minute thinking if I wasn't coming who else may come get him. I could hear mom and dad laughing in their room....but I did get up with him.

Maggie and I have been working alot with her letters and numbers and such. She has gotten the hang of it pretty good and can now spell her name. She is really excited about preschool this fall, I made a few phone calls to check out the preschool here and found one that seems really good. Plus, it doesn't start until 9, as opposed to the other ones that start at 8, so that will work alot better for her since she is like her mommy and doesn't like to wake up too early. We also found a church here that we really like. It is shelby christian church and has a website if you want to check it out. (www.shelbychristian.org) It is a sister church to southland in lexington where we used to go, but it isn't nearly as big. The pastor was really good and Maggie loved her class since there were lots of little girls. They have alot of activities to get involved in also, even ballet, tumbling, and soccer which Maggie wants to do(all 3). Well, I am gonna get off here and try to rest up before Owen gets up and the chasing begins. (We have a room with a hot tub in the middle of the living area so Owen's goal all day is to turn the water on and push the button that turns on the jets) Ahhhhh.........life in a hotel!

One more week

So we only have one more week before we get to move into our new home. We close next Saturday morning, and hopefully we can move our stuff in sometime the following week if we can find out where out stuff is. It is supposed to be on a train from New York to KY as of a week or so ago but we have no word since then. We are hoping it wasn't on that train that crashed in KY a week or so ago! How bad would that be? It will be so nice to finally all be together in our house. We aren't going anywhere for awhile once we get settled in. We are really going to miss being at Mimi and Grandad (jaja)'s house though. It has been so nice to get to spend these last few months with them and want to thank them so so much for letting us take over their home!! They are really going to miss us being here too I know, although they will probably be glad to finally get to sleep all night again without Owen waking them up.




This past week the kids and I went with Karri and Nicholas to the Clay Center and let the kids play there. They had a really good time, Owen hadn't been before and he loved playing in the balls.

It was fun to get to be with Karri too, she is due to have her 2nd baby in May so this summer we will have one more in tow with us when we get together.

Maggie is so funny and had to ask every kid there what their name was. She was especially fond of this one little boy and I asked her what his name was and she told me Superman. How funny is that.











Maggie is really excited to get in our house, but doesn't know why we can't take amanda with us. Right now they are watching Cinerealla together and acting out all the parts. Maggie spent the day over at Patti K and Jim's the other day and came home with earrings. (clip on of course) She loved them and insisted on wearing them to bed. She is such a girly girl. Owen on the other hand has no interest in wearing pink bows and earrings as you can see!!





















This past Friday night Tab, Amanda and I went out for girls night and had a blast. We went out to eat and then went and saw the movie Catch and Release. I personally liked the movie and how it ended...Amanda and Tab wished she had picked the other guy though. We had a really good time and stayed out later than I have been for along time. I have had alot of fun getting to hang out with my sis latley and am going to miss her tons when we get into our house. She has been going through a hard time right now, which most of you may know about. I am not going to give any time to Tres on this blog.....but you can see exactly what is going on by going to my sis's blog.

Kickboxing anyone???

So, we have all pretty much bummed around all week here at mom and dad's house. Tonight, my sis, Amanda, gets this big idea that she and I should go to a kick boxing class. I agreed, reluctantly. I must admit that the last time I really excercised was before Owen was ever born.(and he is 18 months) Unless of course you count the times that I opted to walk to the store in Germany instead of drive. :) So we get ready and get to the class as it is beginning and for the first 10 minutes or so it wasn't so bad. Amanda had told me the class was an hour long.....just for future reference it actually was an hour and 45 minutes! As for the rest of the class let's just put it this way.........If given the chance I would opt to go through Owen's labor and delivery weekly instead of going back to that class. (And I had Owen 100% naturally) Not only was this workout nonstop for like 2 hours, but we stood in a circle instead of all facing the same way. With all the moves this teacher was having us do it was hard enough to keep up let alone with her facing me so I had to try adn mimic her moves from the opposite direction. We did make it through the class and I will say it did feel good afterwards, but I think next time I will be sure to check whether I am in the beginer or advanced class before I let my sis sign me up for some workout.

We have had fun here this week just hanging out, and I don't know what Maggie is going to do when she has to leave Amanda. If given the option she ALWAYS chooses to stay with Amanda as opposed to going anywhere with me. They have sung and danced constantly and Maggie has leanred quite a few ballet moves from Amanda.

The kids and I are headed back to Shelbyville tommorow to spend the weekend with Joe before he heads to Alabama for all of next week. I think Mom, Dad, and Amanda are coming up Friday for a day or two so they can see the house so far and our new town. We will be back at mom and dad's for all of next week and then hopefully the following week we will be in our home....I am not getting my hopes too high yet though. There is still quite a bit to get done before then.

Movin' Around

So the kids and I spent the week in Kentucky and had a blast. We haven't been staying more than a few days since we are still in a hotel and that isn't so easy with 2 little ones for very long. But they did really good this week and Nick and Neila are great and let us use their house for a get away and dinners so that makes it easier. Our house is coming along good and we got our driveway this week so from the front it looks done, the inside not so much though. It is ready to paint and to get the flooring in though, so once that is done I am hoping it will go quickley from there. I got my new washer and dryer ordered this week and am SO exicted. I got the whirlpool cabrio and it has all the bells and whistles and since I love doing laundry (weird, I know) I am really excited to see how it works. Neila and I had a blast and are so excited for us to get moved in so we can have fun days all the time like we did this week. We went to the picture people on Thursday and Maggie did awesome. Her pictures turned out adorable and she was such a little model for them. Owen on the other hand needed his feet cemented to the floor. He would not stand still for a second, let along pose. Here are some of them, I can get them off the site but not without the "zazzle" sign across the front so just ignore that.
























We spent all day thursday and friday shopping till the kids literallly dropped as you can see from Owen.



















Maggie has turned into a pro shopper already and had fun posing with the old navy dog that she loves.


















We got tons of great deals and stocked up on alot of next year clothes for the kids.
We got Owen and Carson matching "heartbreaker" outfits but Owen was literally POURED into his so I returned it but not before we got a shot of them together.



















Maggie wasn't about to let a photo shoot go down without her in the middle of it though.












Joe is really liking his new job and the hours are great. He and Nick have began a workout routine and get up 3 days a week at 5 am and workout at the gym before going into work. Pretty impressive huh, Needless to say Neila and I are not going to be joining them but we do hope to get to the gym in the evenings so the boys don't look better than us at the beach this summer!
We headed back to mom and dad's this evening after dropping Joe off in Lexington to meet his dad and brother as they were going to a UK game. Joe is then heading here to Poca tommorow and has to work in Ashland all week so he will be staying with my cousins who live about 25 minutes from there. The following week he goes to Alabama all week for a training thing at work and hopefully the following week we will be in our house.....we hope!
That is about all going on with us, we are looking forward to having fun in WV with everyone and of course the kids are thrilled Amanda is here so they definetely won't get bored. Here are a few old pictures of the kids from this summer that I never got access to until latley. I thought they were really cute.

Who says you can't go back.............

Okay, so most of you guys already know about our big news, but for those of you who don't.....We are moving back to Kentucky!!!!! Joe finished up his last week at Cat in Germany in December and we have now just been getting ready and waiting. He started his new position here in Louisville today, at Progress Rail, which is a division of Caterpillar. Everything has just fallen in place with us getting back to the states and getting to end up back where we wanted to be. We are building a house in Shelbyville, Kentucky which is right between Louisville and Lexington. I have enough shopping between those two cities to last me along time! Our house will be only about 5 minutes from Nick and Neila's so we are so excited about living near them. The past few months have been pretty hectic boucning between houses and hotels but it will be so worth it when we get into our home. It should be finished at the end of the month and until then we will continue to stay at mom's house and here in Louisivlle some too at the hotel with Joe.


Here are some pictures of our house under construction!










Here is Joe, Maggie, and Owen on the catwalk overlooking the great room.









Maggie in her new walkin closet!

Happy New Year!!

So what a fun, crazy year we have had. We rung in the new year with our best friends, Nick, Neila, and Carson, once again and had so much fun.





Joe got Maggie a pinata to bust and she had lots of fun doing that.















Owen has had fun playing with Carson and giving him rides around the kitchen. As you can see, Carson isn't too sure about Owen being in charge!!



















Owen had his fair share of chocolates too and enjoyed them!


stay tuned to the blog for all our upcoming new year changes!!!