Just Hide the Dishes in the Dryer

Prepping for VD.

2012-02-12T22:28:00.002-05:00

{You'll Shoot Your Eye Out Kid}

It had been over a month since seeing my dad and I was missing him, so I called and asked to come down with the kids. Then I invited my sister along for some traditional Valentine's Day crafts and oh my gosh check out last year's post here because you cannot believe how much our four kids have grown in just one year! Ridiculous.

We always get to dad's at noon so we can have lunch together, too bad for him the kids got normal food and we brought a salad and some fresh take (it's like a coating for baked chicken - shake n' bake with cheese mixed) for the overweight big people.

Don't think after a bowl of salad I didn't add up the WW points for a Lofthouse cookie! And then immediately shove it in my face and enter the four points into my phone.

We let the kids tear up the place while we digested and cleaned up. I wondered why they were being so quiet in dad's bedroom. Yeah they were doing something not allowed at home...hasn't my dad ever read about the ten little monkeys?

We planned to let the kids make cards for their dads, I got the idea from Pinterest but now that I'm here looking at the difference between theirs and ours? Quite a bit...damn, the fingers were supposed to overlap!

{Taken from Pinterest}

After they were finished with the hands, we cut them out into hearts and spiced them up with glitter and I quickly decided I could not give them to Jon. What if he said he was going to take them to work and they sat in his van for a month and got ruined? Can't take that chance...so we'll get him a box of conversation hearts instead.

After our painting, Haylee found a DVD with a picture of a pig on it so she ran it to my dad saying "I want to watch Peppa Pig!" I was only half listening to the commotion but he put in the DVD and assured her that Peppa Pig was coming on but it was the Simpson's Movie with the spider pig in it!

The movie was totally inappropriate but they were glued to it...hey, my sister and I wanted to catch up with our dad so desperate times called for desperate measures! I only hope Ryan doesn't use the word butt-head at daycare tomorrow.

Leave it to my dad to teach them the things they shouldn't be learning until at least six or seven, right? I'm pretty sure that is why Ryan is so drawn to him, because he's like the rebel grandpa who does things that make mom gasp...

But if you ask me they are good for each other.

This and That.

2012-02-10T22:52:00.000-05:00

{Frozen Edamame Soy Beans: microwave one minute and salt}

Katie fell on the floor when she saw me snack on these today!

I wish I had a better network of bloggers who were on Weight Watchers because I could really use some tips and tricks right now! You may remember that my mom, sister and I signed up for their online program two weeks ago and although we are all doing very well, it has been hard to find variety. My mom is down twelve pounds, my sister six and five for me.

Although the weight these past few weeks has come off slowly, I have been getting compliments from so many people. Even my doctor said to me at a visit this week "oh my gosh, you are sixteen pounds lighter than you were when I saw you in September!" which made me feel like a diva.

I do not care if I only lose one pound per week for the next twenty weeks...that simply means I will be twenty pounds lighter this summer than I am today and the thought of that? Inspiring.

Although we've had the mildest winter since I've been old enough to drive, tonight I was white knuckled. People joke about how Michigan drivers should have it down pat by now and I'm right with them but when it's twenty degrees and the roads are pure ice? There is no starting, stopping or turning, it's just giving it a little gas and saying a prayer. It took me two hours to drive twenty five miles tonight and 1/2 of the drive was after I picked up the kids which made me nearly want to throw up.

The more I think about Ryan starting kindergarten this year, the more I get that lump in my throat. This child that I created and have had had in my hip pocket for five years is now going to be off on his own at a big old elementary school with cliques he may not fit in, kids who will teach him that the tooth fairy doesn't exist and laugh at him when he gives a wrong answer in front of the class. The thought of somebody hurting him breaks my heart...

Tonight I let him sit at my computer and practice his letters, I spelled to him and he would find the letter on the keyboard. He knows 1/2 of the letters by sight and needs hints to find the other half which I think is a great start...I was told recently they are eliminating the cursive writing in school because the kids are typing their letters rather than writing which seems bizarre! Kids start out using a computer on the day they arrive. How times have changed.

Lube It Up.

2012-02-07T21:47:00.001-05:00

On our way home from the baby shower Saturday night Haylee says from the back seat "turn on the light mom, I can't find my gum!" Oh great...how in the heck am I supposed to find the missing goo when I'm driving seventy miles per hour down the freeway?

This child is obsessed with chewing gum and at first it was funny because she was like a two year old side show freak who could chew the same piece of gum for three hours and people would comment "wow, she really doesn't swallow it?"

Yeah well now she wakes up on a Saturday morning, eats her breakfast and immediately asks for her gum. Um....do ya think it's a problem? Now I have settled on buying sugar-free and try to convince myself it's okay.

Six months have gone by without incident but the minute we walked in the door, the location of the gum was apparent. The extraction couldn't have come at a worse time, she had been up all afternoon with no nap and she was begging me to put her to bed. Thankfully, she was easily lured in with pizza and a cartoon.

I called my friend Katie who said the trick was definitely ice or peanut butter but I had no ice and only chunky peanut butter so I figured some good old cooking oil would work. All I needed was to get it lubed up right? I'm here to tell you that the canola oil worked within minutes, slid that gum right off the strands of hair. I will add that washing grease out the next morning is another story.

{Did I say it just slid out with ease?}

David took pictures and laughed hysterically because when she stood up to walk away it was also hanging off her rear end! Three places in her hair and on her butt...boy was she a mess.

Showering the Baby.

2012-02-05T20:19:00.000-05:00

Saturday night was a girls night out for Haylee and I, it was my cousin Katie's baby shower. She probably told Ryan twenty times last week that we were going to a party and it was just for GIRLS! As if to say sorry punk...you was born with a wiener.

I have never seen such a pretty shower cake before! And what you see in the background there is little buckets of cotton candy and lollipops for everyone to take home.

Katie's mom is my mother's only sibling, the both of them worked very hard on putting together the shower. I'm sure everyone is glad it's over because even though the baby isn't supposed to come until March 10th, the doctor says it could be much sooner.

{Amy and Mom}

Unfortunately Haylee was the only child there, I told her there would be some friends to play with! Good thing Whitney showed up with her iPod and when Haylee got sick of that, they went outside to the playground.

Oh, wish you could have seen Haylee's face when I told her she was going to the playground with Whitney...she stood in the front yard almost crying and screamed "I don't want to get dirty!!!" I don't know why she acts like a prima donna at two and a half, but she sure does.

From the minute she walked in, the lollipop wasn't far from her reach. When I tried to open the first one and it cracked down the middle, she started running for the candy table to get new one. Like she could ever eat a cracked one.

We heard that at Katie's first shower she basically walked away with nothing but clothes so our family was sure to get her some of the bigger items she will need. Ugh, to be a first time mom again dreading what birth is going to be like...I don't wish it on anybody! I have no idea what that has to do with Katie opening gifts.

While Whitney was trying to keep Haylee from having a meltdown in the mud I cut up the duck cake, it was almost painful to cut it was so cute! I was told there was instructions on how to cut it by my dear old aunt Sandy said "oh just cut pieces straight up and down and it will be fine." As I made my way around the centerpiece however...

{ducky took a dive}

After we ate, played games and had cake everyone started to make their way towards the door. I packed up a goodie bag for all the boys back home and my mom packed one for my sister's kids who couldn't make it but then...I saw she had her own name on one of the buckets of cotton candy. Um, HELLO? We are on Weight Watchers and I'm pretty sure cotton candy isn't on any of the lists! So under her name I wrote a little inspirational message for her.

{Kick that belly roll to the curb girl}

As everybody was leaving Amy wanted a picture with her daughter, maybe the last picture before she herself becomes a mother.

{Amy and Katie}

Which made me want a picture with my mother...

{Jen and Robyn}

Which made Haylee want a picture with her mother...

{Jen and Haylee}

Oh this girl with the gum hanging out of her mouth, you'll never guess where it finally made it's way to on the way home. We took some pics of my little gummy bear but I'll save them for tomorrow night's post.

Less Paneling and Wallpaper.

2012-02-03T21:26:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have actually been to my house I hope this post rocks your socks, I am just so happy with the transformation! Last month when the Pinterest bug bit me and I started ripping out the fireplace, I also was secretly giving paneling in our family room the side eye too.

Five years after moving in I decided that the 1970's particle board had to go. When we started the project, I was most surprised by the fact that the wall was nearly perfect underneath...like there was nothing wrong with it, fortunately for me. I always thought people slapped it up when there was something ugly to hide.

Phase two was the wallpaper and wouldn't you know it came down super easy too? I sat and watched Jon pull down huge pieces at a time and I'm not kidding, it took maybe thirty minutes to rid the entire basement of the wallpaper we have made the throw up face at for five years.

Not only the evergreen trees, but the moose, bear and fish border. Ugh!

But I guess that's better than what was underneath, right? Trees and pink flowers...what the hell was the old owner thinking? Or smoking.

I took some before, during and after pictures so you could see how totally different this basement looks. Maybe I'm still just in shock, but it's just like a brand new room!

You can bet your ass there won't be any fish, moose or bears in my new room...I have to decide how I'm going to decorate before I put anything up on the walls. Oh and I've got to start saving pennies like a mad woman before that idea comes to me.

{When We Moved In}

{Today}

I'm just so in love with how it turned out, although Jon thinks it's a little too dark for a basement. That just means some cute little lamps or something right? I was thinking of like a really big black framed mirror for one of the walls. I think that black would be a good accent with the gray and white.

Sometimes I wish the old lady who used to live here could just walk through and see how many improvements we have made to the house she spent her whole life in. So she could really understand that cobalt blue counter tops are not acceptable, nor navy blue ceilings or wallpaper of any kind, or yellow carpet...my gosh I could go on for days.

Weighting. Watching.

2012-02-01T21:21:00.000-05:00

{My Senior Picture ~ 1995}

I can vividly remember sharing clothes with my sister in high school for about ten minutes. She was always thinner than I and during my junior year I wore her red Zena jeans to school...size ten and button fly. I wore them with my friend's long sleeved white hooded t-shirt and my sister's brown Eastland boots. I got it right up here, clear as day.

The following year I began waiting tables at a restaurant and within no time - you guessed it! I started packing on the pounds because I was eating like that was my job. My clothes were busting at the seams and my sister was walking around in a bikini with a perfect body and perfect hair. I suddenly had a fat roll, big bangs and glasses...

{my sister with her great hair and brown bottled...pop}

Fast forwarding a few years, my sister began to slowly put on her own weight and all the feelings of jealousy that I once had began to fade. I just wished she would return to perfect because I knew what fat felt like and never wanted her to feel the way I did.

Today we're back at the same place we were when I put on those red Zena jeans, we are almost exactly the same in every way. We both had babies in 2009 just four days apart and since that time we've been...well let's be frank. Overweight.

{38 weeks pregnant for Layne and Haylee}

Since September I have really been trying to lose weight on my own by counting calories and going to the gym and yes I have lost fifteen pounds but I'm continually falling off the wagon every few weeks. So last week when my mom said she joined Weight Watchers and I had already been hearing good things about it from some friends at work, I found out that my sister joined too. And as of yesterday...me.

We know it's in the genes. We know we need to do something. I am hoping that with the help of my family we can start to make some real changes. The buddy system really worked out yesterday when my sister e-mailed to say she used twelve points for breakfast and I shared with her some ideas for a five point breakfast that worked for me. Those little tips and tricks are what we need so we don't feel like we're stranded alone on an island.

{BEFORE ~ Christmas 2011}

I found a cute saying on Pinterest that goes "If you eat how you have always eaten, you will look how you've always looked."

Let this be the last fat photo for the three of us.

Mama Had Her Bahama...

2012-01-30T17:35:00.000-05:00

{Bahama Mama ~ My Favorite}

I have always hated opening a blogger's post and first reading the apology about how they have been neglecting their space because instead of blogging, they have been out living life. I used to write every single day but all the sudden it seems the days are passing me by at the speed of light and when I do sit down to write, I feel like they are just boring obligatory posts. So now I'm the one saying I'm sorry!

With all that said...my company has been going through a lot of changes which has been requiring a lot more focus at work, lots of demands coming from different directions. With all that on top of the school class I am taking now, I have been pretty stressed out. By Tuesday I decided to put a babysitter on the line for Saturday night because I was going to be relaxing with a drink come the weekend. I came to love the Bahama Mama during a cruise to the Bahamas in 2003 and have been hooked since then, though I do not get one often.

Jon and I found a nice sit down Chinese restaurant to start off our evening and imagine...a Bahama Mama on the menu at the Chinese place? And it tasted awesome.

As we left First Wok headed for the movie theater I noticed the neon lights of the nail salon...I haven't had a pedicure in three months and wouldn't that be nice? Pedicure or Movie... I tell Jon that we should get pedicures and although he was saying "no way" his face was screaming "I wonder what it's like" so I dragged him two doors down for part two of date night. And he liked it.

Part three involved grocery shopping at Wal-mart sans grabby/mouthy children. Romantic no, peaceful yes.

{Love these rosy wind-burned cheeks!}

Sunday morning it was snowing pretty hard so we told the kids we would go down the street to the "big hill" after we got home from church. We invited David but he said it was too cold so we left him behind!

My two little ones are in love with the big hill and will throw themselves onto their body board and go flying. There was a guy there with two boys about five years old and he was having them go down the smaller side of the hill...he reluctantly let them come on over when he saw Haylee taking it like a trooper.

I have already admitted that since I've signed on to Pinterest I have been looking at every room in my house like it's a piece of crap, right? Last night I decided it was the evergreen tree with the fishing border that needed to go. Jon started peeling the first piece and oddly enough it came off in huge pieces and underneath? Perfectly good walls. WHY have I lived with this shit for five years when it only took thirty minutes to rid ourselves of it? So now I've got painting on the mind and I'm telling you it won't be long this house will be barely recognizable. Thank God it's tax return time...

It's Random.

2012-01-26T21:34:00.000-05:00

I hate starting a new class just as much as you do...it takes a lot of time away from my beloved blog and I've got hate mail in my inbox asking me to find the time for both. I tell you starting this master's program was a huge step and some nights I ask myself why I am putting myself through it...homework on top of working all day, on top of three kids? Blows.

Last weekend Jon called my mom and asked her to come down and go to church with us, surprisingly she sounded excited and showed up like twenty minutes early! I think that was the first time I've seen my mother sit in church (outside of a wedding or funeral) since I've been alive! It was a really good service focusing on "Loss" which was totally appropriate in relation to all that has happened to us over the past year. Afterward we had lunch and went shopping for a few hours, it was very relaxing and an all around good day not soon to be forgotten.

My mom and sister have both recently signed on to Weight Watchers as well as a few girls from my work and everyone seems to feel that the program is pretty easy to follow, so I'm thinking that in addition to my gym membership (which my company has recently agreed to pay for all employees ~ I love working in Human Resources) I am going to go online and sign up for a WW membership as well. Doing more of something is only taking me in the direction of my goal, right?

My house is totally in shambles right now...the paneling is gone but I need to get the painting done and I haven't even decorated the newly painted walls upstairs yet because I don't' know what to do! I wanted the fireplace gone but now that it is, I am still looking around the room like "now what"? I hate decorating and now that I've gotten myself into this project, I don't know how to get myself out.

No, that's not enough venting. I have been super stressed at work lately as my company is going through many changes, so with that on top of everything else...I lined up a date night for Saturday! I'm going to go somewhere, though I have no idea where and I'm going to do something, though I have no idea what. My only hope is that it might include a Bahama Mama because I love that drink more than a fat kid loves cake. Too bad my tired ass can't handle more than one, but this week I deserve it.

Pinterest Sucks...$$$

2012-01-24T22:45:00.001-05:00

To see what all the hype was about, I logged on to Pintrest for the first time just before Christmas and since that day, I have had a "my house is barely livable hovel" funk. You may remember the fireplace removal project or the extreme shitter makeover from last month, well this week I decided to move on to the next...

{The Gateway to Paneling Hell}

I will start by showing you the hallway leading to our basement. It is an entrance right off the kitchen so you walk by it every five minutes and there is no hiding the 1970's perma-decor. The railing was not attached to a stud so it ripped out of the wall soon after we moved in and the holes were just left gaping. From the gaps in the paneling I knew there was drywall underneath it, so this week we decided to rip it down...what could be the worst, right?

How about that the paneling was glued down so it ripped the paper off otherwise decent looking drywall? We had a guy I know come and "skim coat" it, which means it makes it look like a complete wall again? I won't show you the rest of the pics until I have a true before vs. after but let's just say that there is more paneling as you get down there. And evergreen tree wallpaper. And trout fishing border.

{Duct tape holding on the broken trim}

Coming soon...a room sans wallpaper, border and paneling.

Damn you Pinterest, damn you.

Take It to the Ice!

2012-01-22T21:59:00.000-05:00

The gym where I go during my lunch hour also doubles as an ice skating rink for local hockey teams. This week I noticed a flyer for open skating and Friday night just happened to be a Susan G. Komen fundraiser event so the women's hockey team was to be there, giveaways, raffle items, etc.

Haylee was having an absolute meltdown when we arrived, it started at 8:00 which is normally her bedtime so that was bad and when we walked in the GVSU mascot was pretty scary too. So while I tried to calm her down, Jon got the boys out on the ice (without actually going out himself because "falling would hurt") but thankfully one of the hockey players scooped Ryan right up and skated with him for quite a while.

David of course was a pro, he's done the ice skating thing before. He could go front, back, sideways, upside down and with his eyes closed. When Jon finally sent Ryan out on the ice alone I ran up to the glass to take some pictures (with Haylee hanging off my leg, ripping the pony tail out of her hair, still bawling her face off for twenty minutes at least) and when I saw the fear on his face, tears started streaming down mine.

{No Fear Here, Only Crazy Eyes}

Ryan fell down quite a few times but David was right there to help him back up. It was honestly very hard to watch him struggle, his face looked so scared when he would fall and I know that ice was hard enough to crack his head open. I just kept trying to encourage him when all I really wanted was for him to come back off the ice and sit down!

After about the first hour of watching them skate, Jon finally got Haylee calmed down with some popcorn and Ryan was venturing out on his own...not in the one little corner anymore but all the way around the rink like everyone else and the falls came less and less. He was pushing around his little cheater bar like a pro! Jon said that was the point he felt like crying (though of course he didn't) that Ryan had overcome the falls without even thinking about quitting and coming off the ice.

The hockey player chick that toted him around when we got there stopped to tell us she had never seen anyone do so good on their first time out which made us so proud!

{Backwards? Got It.}

{Popcorn? Got It.}

Let me say though his style of skating for the most part was not skating, it was more like running five miles per hour in place and only moving at 1/2 mile per hour doing it. It looked EXHAUSTING! He did get better as the night went on and two hours later when it was time to go home, he dropped the bar and skated over to us with no help. I nearly cried a second time...

From Way Beyond the Grave.

2012-01-18T20:56:00.000-05:00

My great-great-grandmother Mary Alice McIntyre (bottom left)

The great thing for me about subscribing to ancestry.com is the connections I have made with strangers linked to me through a blood line that has spanned centuries. This week I received an e-mail from somebody asking me how I was related to Mary Louise Carruthers which would have been my great grandmother and after exchaning a few e-mails, I found out that his great grandmother and mine were first cousins.

This gentleman has since shared with me names, dates, personal stories and photographs of some of my own ancestors...a branch of my tree I was stuck on with no ideas on how to find more information! The photo above is one he provided to me which shows not only my great-great grandmother but her mother as well, it came attached to a story of how the only boy in the family died at an early age in a tragic accident (he sent a picture of that boy as well).

Last night I poured through all of my collections of old photographs and family history papers to see if I could find anything that would be of value to my new friend and sure enough I found a picture of my own great-grandmother with what I thought was his great-grandmother but it turned out to be his great aunt instead. As I was scanning photographs today at Walgreen's I stared at this one and began smiling ear-to-ear when I realized that I have the locket that my great-grandmother was wearing in this picture back in 1908! Inside the locket is a baby picture of her and a lock of her hair.

Anyway, the gentleman who contacted me is meeting with the last remaining descendent of the McIntyre family this weekend, she is 92 years old. He asked that I send him whatever pictures I had and he is hoping to come back to me with some stories of my family which makes me beyond excited. Let's hope the old bird has the memory of an elephant!

J and J Went Down the Hill...

2012-01-16T09:28:00.001-05:00

{This was the after picture, look at those rosy cheeks}

The bad part about waiting for snow so long was that once we finally got it, the kids were busting at the seams to get their new sleds out. Can we go, can we go, can we go...we promised them we would go afer church on Sunday, not that they would have let us forget. As soon as he walked into class Ryan said to his teacher "I'm going sledding when we get out today." He might as well have said "let's get this show on the road because I've got better places to be."

Even though David got his snowboard for Christmas last year, he only used it a few times so he was pretty nervous getting on it with that huge hill in front of him. He kept saying "I'm gonna die, I just know it!"

Haylee on the other hand wasn't given a chance to be nervous because her dad stuck her on the sled and pushed off. I was standing near the bottom of the hill taking pictures and I was thinking he was going to get on with her! Thankfully she made it to the bottom and was smiling from ear-to-ear.

No matter how much I tried to get a picture of Ryan sledding, I missed him every time! He was going so fast that by the time I would see him, he would already be at the bottom and running back up. He was having so much fun all on his own and lapping every other kid like it was the race.

After taking pictures of all the kids and getting my fill of seeing the smiles on their faces, I decided to hand the camera over to Jon and take a crack at the hill. I was disappointed we didn't have one of those bigger family-sized sleds, only the body board types but I had to do my best because Haylee was begging me to ride with her! If she only knew how close she actually was to dying on that hill...

She didn't know fast until she put her mother on a sled. With all the weight in the back, we took it all the way to the fence and thankfully it had some give in it beacuse we ran straight into it! So.Much.Fun.

Oh, finally I caught this little guy on his way down!

After seeing what I looked like coming down the hill, Jon decided to do it differently so he rocked the hill with a monkey on his back. Sounds more like the Geico pig...wwwweeeeeeeee!

Actually Jon did most of the hill climbing with the kids while I took pictures, he wanted to make sure Haylee didn't fall because he knows that if she gets snow on her gloves they are "dirty" and wants to take them off....too cold for those shenanigans sweetheart!

The church where we go to sled has a train track running next to it and we got lucky enough to see it come through while we were there. I was so nervous because kids were running up to stand right next to the track and I had visions of one of them getting hurt. We stayed back but Jon took my camera up to snap a picture and it turned out really good! I had to edit it with a watermark because he wanted to post it online without anyone taking it for their own.

Finally when our faces were completely numb, we had to say it was time to go and there was a little bit of crying from Haylee but I promised them some hot chocolate so that turned their frowns upside down.

{Rainbow Marshmallows}

Although everyone was really tired it was late in the afternoon so we decided to pull an all-day'er and go to bed early which worked out just fine. The kids are already asking if we can get a "family sled" and go back soon ~ too bad it's dark by the time we get home from work at night, we'll have to wait for the weekend!

Seeing the Beauty In It.

2012-01-14T23:41:00.002-05:00

Since before we even got a 2012 calendar, we've had tickets to the January 13th hockey game downtown. We had prime seats given to us by a customer at Jon's work and when I say prime, I mean like in a suite with a kitchen and a bathroom. It was dollar beer and dog night too so he loaded up on that while I drank a Pepsi and had some chex mix...boring huh? Damn, let your hair down girl!

This morning Jon took the kids for hair cuts which gave me an hour at the gym. I'd have to say that after taking the holidays off from the dieting and work outs, I came back this week with a vengeance and it felt GOOD...I can't emphasize enough the word GOOD. I drove across town to work out on a Saturday morning and I was excited about it. I sweat like a mother scratcher and it felt awesome.

Not so awesome was the conversation I had with the old lady in the locker room who said about the clothes I changed into "Oh you dress so cute, I love how you put that tank top underneath as a layer! My daughter dresses just like that...she's a big girl too." Um, okay? Did we need to throw that last part in there grandma?

Since we finally received our first snow fall this week, the drive across town was absolutely beautiful. Everything was a blanket of white and with the sun shining on the trees making everything sparkle, it was almost heavenly.

The new snow and sunshine and sense of motivation have just made me so happy today. I love getting ready to head out of the house on the weekends because the sunshine reflects the lacy pattern on the wall and makes me smile because it too was very beautiful, like my drive was.

I firmly beleive that feeling good on the inside this week has made me feel all mushy gushy about everything on the outside that I've deemed pretty. Well, I hope the kids are ready to get up close and personal with all that new snow because we have plans to tackle the hill at the end of our street tomorrow afternoon!

Surprise Visitors.

2012-01-12T21:44:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Jon received a phone call from his uncle Ron saying he (and his family) were on their way to Michigan to visit for the weekend. They decided this at noon, packed their bags and hit the road for the five hour drive.

Jon already had plans to attend a fireman's banquet on Saturday night so the kids and I went over to Jon's parents house to visit them. Donna bought an X-Box Kinect over the holidays so everyone was getting down to some dancing game, especially little Haylee who didn't stop shaking her tail feather from the time we got there until we left!

Work It Girl...Do Your Thang!

Her enthusiasm got everyone out on the dance floor, even Jon's uncle Ron! It's a funny thing, these family members from Ohio...they don't see you for like two years and when they walk in the door it's like all smiles and hugs. Carrying on with my kids like they were their own kids, waiting on them hand and foot and even inviting them to come stay at their house this summer.

Now, I know what it's like having two little ones in the house and you can bet your ass I don't have the energy to invite two more in, no matter how much I like them. What I am saying is...Ohio = genuinely nice, down home people. I should try to be more like them.

There is something about Jon's mother and this wig she found at Goodwill (and washed she will tell you), but she sticks it on the head of anyone who walks in the door sans hair. The wig is also a fan favorite for the kids.

My boy has dimples for days!

It was so cute to see Ryan and Ronnie play for hours and never once disagree or get sick of each other, they were like the perfect pals! On Sunday morning when we got up the first thing Ryan said was "will I get to see my cousin again today?" Awe...

Eva was the perfect little mother to Haylee and entertained the pants off her! I almost wanted to steal Eva for myself...I wouldn't have to lift another finger as long as I live with her in the house. She cleaned up after the kids, she got snacks, she taught Haylee how to play games. I wonder if she can change a blow out diaper?

Anyway, on Sunday morning Jon got up super early so he and the boys could visit because he knew they would have to make the trip back to Ohio around lunchtime. Haylee and I followed a few hours later and we weren't in the door ten minutes before she had her dad on the dance floor, showing him some new moves!

We all decided to head to town for a mid-morning brunch before they got on the road, Haylee made sure Eva looked presentable. I couldn't beleive that we sat in Cheers for over an hour and these kids were like angels. Playing games, coloring, talking...the whole weekend was just awesome. Everyone had so much fun catching up with family, and the kids were so content (which in turn meant I was calm).

Donna doesn't get to see her siblings often so he had a pretty hard time letting her brother go. We've tentatively agreed to come down and stay at their house in late February for a birthday party, I really wish we could connect at least once a year...that's not too much to ask, right?

But then as we all know, life happens. We get busy and we've got bills to pay and maybe we'll go next month, and then next month. But then people start dying off and we regret all those times we said we were going but chose not to. All the memories we wanted to make but didn't make time for them.

Global Warming?

2012-01-10T21:41:00.000-05:00

Never in my thirty four years have I seen a winter like this one in Michigan. Normally we would have been buried in snow since the first week in December but here it is the second week in January and we've only seen the white stuff ONCE. And as soon as it fell we bundled up and took to the back yard, though the kids stayed out less time than it took to bundle up which was irritating in itself.

Haylee got snow on her gloves and then ripped them off yelling "I'm dirty mom, my gloves are dirty!" which totally made me laugh out loud, she's such a diva and I hate to admit that I love that about her. Funny when she's two, probably not so funny when she's fifteen.

As quickly as our snow came, it left and here it is January tenth and it's still fifty degrees outside. Tonight the kids played outside while I cooked dinner which doesn't even seem possible. I asked Jon if this was some sort of global warming and he gave me this whole run down about the jet stream and how it's all going to change when a low pressure system comes in to I don't know...change the stream? God I feel stupid when people talk about jet streams.

I am crossing my fingers that we don't get hit double when the snow finally arrives because driving through regular winter storms is scary enough! I just don't understand it, but I like it.

What's going on around the world? Is everyone having a winter like we are?

The Christmas "After Party".

2012-01-09T21:17:00.000-05:00

{little miss sassy pants is looking pretty matter of fact}

On Saturday we had our annual Christmas party with all of my dad's family which seems to be one of those "twice a year whether you need it or not" type of gatherings. A family of eight children who only see each other at the Christmas party in January and the reunion in July and if my cousin and I didn't send out the invites for these two parties? I'm not sure if they would ever get together...which is sad.

Every get together brings new babies so I like to tell my grandpa that there would be fifty six less people in this world if he and grandma hadn't fallen in love. But all the new babies bring drool which is why I'd rather take pictures of them than hold them...I swear to you, my children never drooled and I'm pretty sure it's because God knew I couldn't handle it.

I think family dynamics are funny. Even though I want to see and talk to everyone, each family tends to sit with their own. People get busy with life although I'm sure they want to find out what's new with Crackhead Cousin Connie, they enjoy the time given to visit with their immediate family too. I took this picture of my nephew Layne licking butter off bread and wearing it on his nose, he's such a little peanut and getting cuter by the day.

There are a few family members that I immediately draw to and one of them is Crazy Aunt Tina...who obviously permed her hair this year because she's obsessed with me. She does not even flinch when I touch or ask to photograph her boobs so maybe I'm the crazy one?

Ah, my last remaining grandparent...who would have thought that he would have outlasted the rest of them? This dude drives no less than eighty miles per hour even to go get milk at the gas station, he rides a four wheeler as fast as it goes through the woods and on sand dunes, he lives on the wild side! My cousin Cyrinda and I have a thing about taking our picture with Grandpa every year, damn I wish my perm would settle down it's looking like a fro-ball!

{My dad being a dork and not cooperating}

Our party was over with in record time this year, my poor grandpa drove three hours to get there and everyone only stayed two and a half, which was nice in a way because I quickly visited with everyone and still got home for a lazy Saturday nap with the kids. Again, it makes me sad that everyone is so busy they can't make time or maybe don't have the desire to really connect with each other, it makes our parties feel almost obligatory...almost like teeth cleanings, twice a year whether you need it or not.

He's Smart Enough. I Hope.

2012-01-06T22:59:00.000-05:00

This week I had one of those moments when as a mother I felt like "oh, shit I've screwed up his life already?" A girl in my office who has a daughter born the same month as Ryan came in to ask if I heard that the public schools in our area were moving to a full time kindergarten this year (five full days). I said that I hadn't heard anything about it and then we exchanged small talk about our kids starting school in just a few short months.

Because this woman's daughter has been in pre-school for the past two years and Ryan has never been to pre-school, I was curious to know how they compared academically. She said that her four year old was able to spell her name, mom, dad, cat, dog and also pick out all letters of the alphabet and write them when asked to. Like she can say "draw me a lowercase b" and her four year old can do that.

Oh shit.

When I got home I decided to draw some words on the dry erase board to see if he could copy them, I thought that would be a good start because I know he can't even pick out letters on command. He has always been interested in spelling his own name and he can spell it out loud so I tried something new on the dry erase board. In looking at the photo above I really need to watch how I write my words, do you see how my D had an overhang to the left and how he very intently tried to copy it?

It's just that we never seem to have time to sit down and do homework but I only have a few months to get my act in gear because these kids have to get tested in order to get into school! He can say his alphabet and count to twenty (always skipping the number 15) so I thought he was all set, but now I'm not so sure.

Nothing got me worried more than when she said "He still takes naps? Oh, he's really going to struggle when he's made to sit in school all day long if you don't take the nap away from him now." When this child doesn't take a nap, he turns into hellboy and that can't be good for learning!

The only thing making me feel somewhat okay right now about my decision not to send Ryan to pre-school is that I taught him his ABC's in one day. Sure we had sang a little here and there and he knew about half of it but when I decided it was time? We learned it in a matter of hours and he retained it.

Kids little brains are like sponges and Ryan loves to learn new things, I bet he will be awesome in a classroom setting because he'll want to learn and I have eight months to teach him the letters so I'm not going to freak out just yet. So what that other girl is practically writing children's books at four years old, I'm sure there will be just as many who won't even know how hold a pencil.

Oh wait, Ryan doesn't know how to hold a pencil...no matter how many times I've tried to show him.

Call Me Crazy.

2012-01-04T21:10:00.000-05:00

The night we took down the Christmas tree, I put the living room back in order and then sat on the couch looking at my room. I thought about how much easier it would be to rearrange the furniture if we didn't have the fireplace. We have lived in our house five years and have not used the fireplace once because when it was inspected, they told us the inside was cracked. And on top of that, Jon never wanted a mess in the house and I guess he has something against awesome smelling, warm crackling fires.

I will give you a tour around the rest of my living room so you can see the dilemma in my head. The outside living room wall has a bay window and the front door.

Looking in from the front door you can see the opposite wall is the entrance to the kitchen and dining room with a stupid little closet built right in the middle of it. To the left is a set of stairs going up and going down.

So unless you want to block off the bay window, the only place to put the couch is where I have it now and where we have had it for five years. So I simply put a post on Facebook asking if anyone knew somebody who could rip my fireplace from the wall and within thirty minutes I was on the phone and a masonry guy was coming over the next night.

I make snap decisions...frequently.

The guy gave me a very reasonable price, about $150.00 less than what I was expecting so a few days later he came back with his tool bag and got to work. Jon kept saying he didn't care what I did, but that's just his way of saying "I think it would be a good idea too but I don't want everyone giving me all the shit they are giving you, so I'll keep my thoughts to myself."

After the guy got there, Jon asked more than once if I was sure and when it was apparent that I wasn't changing my mind, he put a condom on his head and pitched in to help the guy!

Look at this dude, he's like seven foot tall (and in a way looked like an old boyfriend which really creeped me out...mom, you know the one). He was super nice though and worked fast even though he had Ryan hot on his heels wanting to sweep up the mess. He not only let Ryan sweep but he asked him to make measurement lines, carry wood, etc. so that was really nice.

He figured out that the blocks from the chimney came pretty far down the wall so instead of trying to piece everything together, it would just be easier to drywall the entire wall.

He has been back two days now to mud/sand and now we have one entire wall! I know that most people would rather have the fireplace but this is just going to work so much better for us. Jon was worried about reducing the value of our house but honestly, I have no plans to move so I think we make it work for the present.

I can't wait to paint this weekend and show you the room when it's all put back together, but before then I need your advice! Since we won't be able to match the wainscoting I plan to paint the new wall one of the solid colors (sage green or tan) which I still have. Since it will be the only wall without the wainscoting, should it be something totally different? Help a girl out here.

It Ain't What It Used to Be.

2012-01-02T20:46:00.001-05:00

We did not get a sitter, although I wouldn't have turned one away! Gone are the days of drinking until the clock strikes twelve and here are the days of eating too much and crawling into bed by ten.

We had no plans for New Years Eve so on Saturday Jon concocted a plan to make home made pizzas with the kids and rent the new Smurfs movie...woo hoo, big woopie! We invited his parents and brother's family over and they both said yes, so the house cleaning began with only a few hours to spare.

Everyone arrived around dinner time and we made pizza, chicken wings and dip. The kids played with some of their new Christmas toys and then we put on the movie.

Pizza Assembly Line

I tried to get the adults to play cards, nobody felt up to it but at the same time nobody really wanted to watch the movie either! Funny to see everyone slowly make their way to the living room as soon as the movie began. The living room which has ONE couch and NO chairs in it.

Soon enough everything became a chair and the two little ones got the best seats in the house!

And everyone left by nine o'clock which put us in bed by ten! What LOSERS, right? I feel like a boring old fart even writing this post...there isn't a thing I can say to even spice it up a little!

Extreme Shitter Makeover.

2012-01-01T23:10:00.000-05:00

I have four days off work for the new years holiday and God help the children, I was not made to be a stay at home mother. We've had no plans and haven't left the house much which equates to me cleaning every nook and cranny while the kids play with their toys or watch television and fight about who is touching something that belongs to them or who got to pick the last show.

On Friday I looked around at my house and thought to myself...I haven't put a dime into decorating this year and my house looks BLAH. Not that I'm a decorating freak or want my house to look all Better Homes and Gardens but I do enjoy fixing my place up when I can.

So I went into K-Mart....yeah, I didn't say I decorate from Pier One people. I went to K-Mart and picked up a few things for our upstairs bathroom.

The "old" bathroom had nasty blue rugs that have been washed so many times, they had brown feet marks on them. The "old" bathroom has had no handles on the cabinets since we moved in almost five years ago. The "old" bathroom had an ugly blue shower curtain Jon found on clearance and has hung with one missing a hook for entirely too long.

For less than $75.00 about one hour of work, I transformed our bathroom and even though Jon was cracking jokes about me getting a wild hair up my butt, he actually uttered the words "I like it" after ~~he christened it~~ I was finished decorating. Compliments don't fall from his mouth often so, I know I did a good job.

I have always wanted to do something with this bathroom but we have a a lighthouse border around the top of the room and the reason it is there is because there was an equally nasty border underneath that I couldn't get off when we moved, My color choices have been limited by that damn border.

(Yes we have a window inside the shower)

The problem I have now is that I'm seeing things that could be done differently in other rooms and I think to myself "it shouldn't cost much to just ______(fill in the blank)" so thankfully we go back to work on Tuesday so I can stop looking at these four walls and wanting to change them.

But before they allow me back into work on Tuesday, I have somebody coming tomorrow to rip the fireplace out of our living room. Another rash decision on my part? Um, yeah....stay tuned.

For Three Days Straight.

2011-12-29T22:00:00.000-05:00

The day after Christmas we packed into the car and made our way to my sister's house so we could celebrate with my mom. We were totally Christmas'd out by this point so I had to remind myself that yes this was our fourth party, but it was her first.

While my sister slaved in the kitchen, I sat in a chair and took pictures because I was still tired from watching Jon slave in the kitchen the day before. My mom and Jon had a hell of a time trying to get the Polly Pocket clothes on the little people because their skimpy little dresses do not fit their curvy little bodies. I will refrain from posting Jon's picture putting a pink dress on the Polly Pockets because he looks like he's having fun...creeper.

Even though my kids got a load of toys at their own house, nothing could be as fun as the toys belonging to somebody else, right? Soon enough it was time to eat and instead of a traditional ham or turkey we decided on fried chicken (the day before with dad) and steak for our party with mom. We like to mix it up.

After dinner (and dessert) the kids played Santa and passed out gifts to all the wrong people so I followed behind them and re-arranged. A few of the kids were giving the side eye to Haylee's pile like "how's this chick rate?" My mom had gotten her a doll house and then wrapped all the furniture separately so it looked like she had a ton more. Kids don't understand dollar amounts, they understand two vs. four.

Ryan got the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine and some fuzzy pajamas which he immediately dropped his drawers to put on. Since Monday they have been playing with those two toys...in reverse order. He's playing with the house and she's pushing around the scooby van!

After we opened gifts, I took some videos of the kids including this one of the hula hoop contest. How we came up with this idea is beyond me! What a bunch of hams...

Oh and my gift...mom asked us to pick out one thing we really wanted the most so I asked for a cross necklace because I haven't had a nice one in about ten years. I think she did a really good job picking it out!

Her choice in necklaces was alot better than one of the beads I bought for her bracelet which was the birthstone for October and her birthday is in September! Um...MY birthday is in October so I'm sorry mom but the thought was there, right?

A Magic Ingredient.

2011-12-27T22:10:00.002-05:00

I have always been known for my lack of cooking, baking and crafting skills. My grandma was awesome when it came to all three and she tried her best, but it just didn't stick with me...my sister Betty is another story. In the year after I was married I asked her to hand write a book of recipes for me and I never appreciated that book as much as I did this Christmas.

When I pulled it from the cupboard and stood on the chair reading and sobbing, Jon had to walk away with tears in his own eyes. The last line on the first page where she told me to "treat myself to the memories made by baking" touched me the most. My grandma was notorious for her holiday baking so I pulled that book down to make something in her honor.

She called them magic cookie bars and they were the one thing we could always count on getting at her house on Christmas. I set my mind to making them for the party at my sister's so I lit a candle in the kitchen, turned on some Christmas music and in the silence of the house I concentrated on the words and tried to do everything perfectly.

I had to laugh as I flipped through the pages because I think she copied down only the easiest of the easy recipes and she would write little encouraging words like "this one is REALLY easy" as she knew I couldn't boil an egg.

One of her instructions said that if there was an ingredient in a recipe that I didn't like, it was okay to substitute for something similar. So instead of using milk chocolate chips, I used the peanut butter and milk chocolate mix. I stood by the stove and checked those bars every minute as the timer got close so I didn't burn them!

They turned out a perfect golden brown which made me very excited and proud but the next day when people started biting into my holiday goodness, they began to make faces and ask what ingredient they were tasting! I knew they would soon guess it was the peanut butter chips.

But then they looked puzzled and when Jon said it tasted very strongly of cinnamon I remembered that I didn't have regular graham crackers in the cupboard for the crust, so I "substituted" with cinnamon graham crackers like I was instructed! When I said those words out loud and added that I thought cinnamon and sugar would have tasted good in the crust, they broke out in laughter that brought them to tears.

Magic cookie bar fail.

So needless to say grandma tried and even from Heaven with step-by-step instructions I mucked up her traditional magic cookie bars with the authority she gave me to substitute...so I'll take 1/2 the blame and think about all the pointing and laughing the next time I decide to try my hand at baking.

Dad Made It Another Year.

2011-12-26T09:25:00.001-05:00

On Christmas Eve I left Ryan's room with tears running down my face because he had been so unbelievably naughty that night so while I was tucking him in I asked how he would feel if he got up in the morning and found that Santa didn't come for him. I was surprised by his response which was "I will be happy that Nonna gave me some presents today." Oh damn child, I was trying to guilt you not the other way around!

On Christmas morning I got up and lit the tree, turned on the Christmas music and started walking back to my bed when I heard his feet hit the floor so I quickly jumped in and pretended I was sleeping. He came in and told us that Santa in fact had been here but only for Haylee! If you'll notice in the picture above I had to awkwardly shaped items for Haylee I did not wrap, but he had nothing unwrapped! So this boy was sweating bullets...and I honestly didn't do that on purpose!

Jon tried to be quick on his feet and keep the child's heart from breaking so he told Ryan that when he came in from a fire call in the middle of the night Santa told him there were three different colors of wrapping paper for all three kids. We quickly rebuttled with "nobody sees Santa!" and then Jon changed the story to Santa just spoke to him, but he never really saw him? Mmmmmkkkkk. Did he whisper from the chimney? Did he send Jon a text message?

Before we woke up Haylee Jon made sure to give me my gift first, which was a new camera! I only use mine every single day of the week so a two year run was a good one for my old point and shoot. He got me the same brand and style (Canon Powershot) and I would have to say my photos are much clearer now.

While I was doing my Christmas shopping I kept all the kids gifts on a spreadsheet and spent $200 on average for each which I felt was a ton of money but when everything was wrapped under the tree they only had like four-ish things each...which I thought looked small? But nobody had complaints so I guess that was all in my head.

Around lunch time my dad, sister and David showed up. We weren't allowed to have David on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning according to his beast of a mother but I could go on for days about that. Unfortunately he arrived after we already had a house full so he had to open our gifts during the group party.

The littles wouldn't cooperate for the attempted group picture so I just told them to make their funniest face which obviously meant pull down your eyelid(s)? My dad, sister and I on the other hand had one take which turned out just perfect in my humble opinion.

I am very thankful that I have husband who likes to do the cooking during parties because I can barely squeak out a decent taco dinner. He found a recipe online from the Food Network for a buttermilk fried chicken so he borrowed the neighbor's fryer and slung chicken in the front yard.

Yeah, the snow is gone already. Never have I remembered a year without snow for Christmas and let me tell you, it's disappointing.

Jon also came up with the idea to bring in the kid's picnic table. Damn he was on the ball yesterday!

At one point I had to tell my sister that I was really sorry but I was finding mad humor in the fact that her daughter was being so naughty. She was squealing (and shedding tears) over the fact that NOBODY GAVE HER A SPOON! and it was such a dramatic cry out for a spoon too. Even funnier to me was editing the photo and noticing the s-p-o-o-n that was once right next to her plate!

Right as we started eating the neighbor called Jon to say they had left for their Christmas party over an hour away and forgot their bowl of strawberry fluff, so if we wanted it...it was ours for the taking. Merry Christmas to us because it was good!

After dinner we made our way to the living room where my father continued to teach the children things like sticking silly putty to the wall and watching it stretch down like a big booger. Ah, the things he teaches our poor impressionable children...

On to the presents.

Aunt Steph made her this awesome scarf!

Pop right from the kitchen sink? Just what he needs!

Optimus Prime Transformer? He nearly died.

He literally did a break dance move on his new sled.

After all of the hoopla was over we let the kids play and we visited. Dad and B.J. tried to teach David how to whip around his new fly fishing pole but they said he's still doing it wrong...thank goodness we also bought him a 4-hour class to teach him how to do it! (A $150 course I got through Groupon for $25 - woot! woot!)

We read books.

We played Operation (which is nothing like the one we had growing up).

We raked through Barbie's mop.

And taught the kids how to make those little circle shapey things, but I can't remember what they are called.

Did I mention Jon did a bang up job bringing our party together? So I went ahead and let him have that two and a half hour nap after everyone left...even though the kids didn't sleep a wink. And cried the whole time because they were tired. And I had baking to do for my mom's party today. And I had to clean up the house because it was was a disaster area.

Merry Christmas!

She's a Diesel Fitter.

2011-12-25T00:26:00.000-05:00

For as long as I have been a part of Jon's family we have always celebrated on Christmas Eve. No matter when everyone else planned a party, Jon was adamant that we always have dinner at his parents house on Christmas Eve. So this year when my sister-in-law said her family was coming to town and we were going to switch things up, Jon's panties got in a bunch.

We decided to break tradition and instead of having dinner on Christmas Eve, we would have breakfast...and now that the day is over I would have to say that I very much liked the change! Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day anyway, but it was also nice to just sit around sipping ~~orange juice~~ mimosa's and watching the kids play with their gifts all laid back like, because they were well rested.

And the icing on my cake was the fact that overnight we had SNOW. It is December 24th and we are finally getting a little snow for Christmas? I was wishin' and hopin' and prayin' for some - just enough to make it pretty and this is what I saw when I looked out my basement window this morning. Making my Christmas lights look all glowy and my heart all puffy.

Jon's dad made an awesome breakfast with all the extras, like blueberry muffin bread and hot cinnamon rolls. Just like at Thanksgiving we got out all the nice china glasses for clinking (which Haylee is in love with doing) but then I was taken back to my childhood when they broke out the good plastic plates, just like mom used to for a holiday dinner.

We took some pictures of the kids by the tree before opening presents, they of course cooperated half-assed because SpongeBob Squarepants was on TV in the background and that is the only thing they were thinking about looking at.

And then the opening ensued.

Aunt Heather and Uncle Brian got Haylee this interactive cat which has totally freaked out everyone in the family. It's like motion sensored and it will just turn it's head and look at you, raise it's paw to bat in your direction, meow...FREAKY, and I might lose the batteries out of it?

David nearly wet his pants every single gift he opened as if it were the number one on his list. Here he is literally screaming over a box of modeling clay. But when it comes to his crafts, I guess Nonna knows him best.

This little punk on the other hand spent the rest of his morning getting himself into trouble with a Nerf gun. Nobody should ever buy the naughty boy a gun because he's only going to get naughty'er with it.

I did however find it hard to believe that I actually caught a picture of a bullet mid-air! What are the chances of that with a little point and shoot camera?

While the kids played the rest of us relaxed and made jokes....mostly about Jon's mother being a diesel fitter. I swear every piece of clothing she buys for our kids is like one year ahead of where they are now (if we're lucky because sometimes it's two or three). Walt says she just holds up something and says "oh yeah deeswillfitter" and throws it in the cart. Today it was a pair of tights that went from the floor to Haylee's head. Maybe next year on those?

The adults exchanged a few gifts, including this apron we got for Jon's dad with an inside joke embroidered across the front.

By about noon the kids were ready to go back home and get a nap. We had been up early, filled our bellies and played games so they were starting to turn cranky and plus Jon had lots of food to get prepped for Christmas Eve dinner.

Of course no visit at Nonna's would be complete without dancing. She and Haylee did some booty shaking and some slow dancing....it's their favorite past time.

Now I'm not sure about Jon but I'm thinking Christmas Eve breakfast could be a new tradition?

My Son the Rock Star.

2011-12-21T20:34:00.002-05:00

Ryan attends the 4-5 year old class at church so finally this year he was able to sing in the Christmas program! They practiced their songs for a few weeks and also painted luminaries (which they will hold during our Christmas Eve service). I thought I would upload a video for his grandparents who might like to see him rocking it out. Or not rocking it out.

For as outgoing as he is, this child looked as though he was absolutely distressed on stage! He kept his hands folded so neatly and he had such a serious face. He does throw out a few of the words so I'm super proud of him! There were a few kids who sat down or wouldn't go up on the stage, so in my eyes he was awesome! Wouldn't you know as soon as they started entering I began bawling like a baby...I couldn't even see my child for the first three minutes.

P.S. Mom I keep forgetting to tell you that I've noticed Sally Headley at my church the past few months, she is married to an older man and really has fixed herself up since the "old Sally days". That is her granddaughter in the red dress next to Ryan.