Naptime for Mama

Margaret Ann Roberts finally came!

2012-09-03T17:25:00.000-04:00

Little Ms. Maggie was quite content where she was at with no signs of wanting to come out.

Heading to the hospital.

Fortunately, on Tuesday, August 28th at 41 weeks plus 1 day I was finally induced and we got to meet Maggie at 8:02pm.

She came into this world weighing 9 pounds 4 ounces and was 22.5 inches long.

Mama Patty

Baby Maggie's coming soon...we hope!

2012-08-12T22:15:00.003-04:00

Only one more week until my due date and hopefully only one more week until we get to meet Maggie. We are so excited for her to join our family, I can hardly stand it! We are more then ready with her clothes washed, bassinet ready, bottles and pacifiers clean.

I am feeling pretty good, a little tired, but that is normal. I am excited that I have only gained 19 pounds with this pregnancy, a little different than the 60lbs with Kate and 40lbs with Nick. I can also still wear my wedding bands, which I was not able to do with either of the other pregnancies. We are pretty much just taking it day by day right now, just waiting for signs of labor, which as of tonight are NONE! :(

Here is a 39 week pregnancy picture that Mike took tonight while we were out geo-caching.

Hopefully the next time I post I will be introducing our new daughter!

Good Night,

Mama Patty

2012-07-25T17:56:00.002-04:00

Hi All! I know it has been FOREVER since I have done a blog post, I am sorry...

Anyhoo-We have been busy this summer going on trips, working on weddings, swimming the summer away and growing my baby bump bigger!

I am 36 weeks along and Baby Maggie could make her appearance anyday, but really I have about another month, due August 20th. We are ready for Maggie to come, I have all the necessary baby gear, the bassinet is ready and waiting. The only thing I needed to do was to get some preggo pictures taken, and that is what I did this morning with Mike and the kids. I thought that it would be a good post to jump start my enterance back into the "bloggy-world". I am hoping that from this point on I will post at least once a week for all of my loyal 17 followers:)

Enjoy the pics!

That's all for now!

Mama Patty

Saturday Morning Random-ness

2012-05-19T11:55:00.001-04:00

It's been busy the last few weeks at our house, mostly due to the fact that I am working A LOT more this month due to local high school proms that we decorate for and the beginning of wedding season at work.

It's 8:20am, and I am grateful to have gotten to sleep in until 7:30.
It is supposed to be a sunny 84 degrees today and 86 tomorrow, perfect days to spend outside playing in the yard and bike riding, so that is the plan. I do wish that there was an outdoor pool open somewhere.
Between work and fire officer class Mike is gone ALL weekend.
We have a softball clinic at 9:30 this morning for Kate hosted by the High School's Varsity softball girls team as a fundraiser.

Just over heard by by the kids as I type...
Kate-"Oh my gosh Nick you have an eyelash on your cheak!!!!!!!" "Hold still so I can get it!!!!!!"
   Nick looks at her like she is crazy, but he follows her direction and holds 'statue still'.
Kate-"Here Nick, now make a wish, then blow your eyelash, and your wish will come true.
    A look of more confusion by Nick along with silence
Kate-"MAKE A WISH, YOU HAVE TO MAKE A WISH, THAT IS THE RULE!!!! HURRY!!
Nick-"Huh?"
Kate-"No, no, no, you are supposed to make a wish in your head, you can't tell anyone!" Say it in your head.
Nick-"In your head"
Kate-"That's not a wish!"
Kate-"Moooooooommmmm, Nick's not making a wish and he HAS to!"
(Now that is certainly something to tattle about, don't you think?

Nick had his last day of pre-school on Thursday, class was at a park, he loved school this year, next year it will be three days a week. This is Nick and his favorite teacher Mrs. Thode.

Less then a month until Aunt Julie's wedding!
Kate had to get a tooth pulled last week due to a cavity, it broke my heart, I swear I make the kids brush their teeth regularly.
Kate has ran almost 18 miles in Millage Club at school over the past month. I don't think that I have ran 18 miles in my life!
We went to a Lansing Lugnuts game on Thursday with Mike's fire chief, his wife and 5 year old daughter, we all had a blast and ate dinner at the ballpark!

Kate just bribed Nick to sit on her lap for a quarter, and he did, and now he wants a quarter.
Mike passed his fire inspector test, he just got the results on Wednesday and was sooooooooo super excited! Mike is a pretty smart guy and he said it was the hardest test he has ever taken.
Baby Maggie weighs over 2 pounds now.
My 14 year old car is getting looked at today by a friend of mine to help determine if it is worth fixing the 10 things wrong with it, or use the money to buy a new car. My car has been so good to us over the years and doesn't owe us a dime.
The new Meijer by our house has their Grand Opening tomorrow, so I whipped 2 of these up for their entrance. Cool Huh?

Baby Maggie now has a new carseat to come home from the hospital in, it is pink and grey, I love it! I went with BabyTrend this time instead of Graco.
Mike grilled the most delish hotdogs EVER the other night for dinner, I made my secret hotdog relish, it was to.die.for!
I have a lot of laundry to do today, sadface.
Kate had her last day of soccer practice this week, she loved it.

I have another "baby" appointment coming up this week, it is the week when they check for gestational diabietes, I hope I don't have it!

We sent out Kate's 6th birthday invitations this week, I can't believe she is going to be 6 soon!
I think that is all for day, have a great weekend. I gotta start the laundry.

What a weekend!

2012-05-09T22:02:00.001-04:00

It's Wednesday night and this is the first chance I have had to do a weekend post.

We will call it the GRAD-BIRTH-RECITAL weekend, with at least 20 out of town guests mixed in there. What a busy, but oh so fun weekend!

Thursday Night: Guest arrival, the house was clean, dinner was made and there were fresh sheets on all of the beds.

Friday Night: Mike's only sister, Maria, Graduates from MSU Vet School, she is now a DR! Late night at Claddaugh's for dinner and drinks after graduation.

She looks a little excited in this pic, don't you think?

Saturday Morning 10:00am: My only niece, Olivia, had her 3rd birthday at our house with about 40 guests, people were sitting on the floor because my house is a little too small for that, but nobody seemed to mind.

Olivia and the "Great" Uncle Tom!

Check out that cake, AMAZING!!

Olivia had a butterfly themed party, adorable!

Saturday Afternoon: Naptime for ALL, ~~especially~~ even for the adults.

Saturday Night: Maria's Graduation party, about an hour south of our house. They reserved a bar for the party, which was nice.

Maria and Beth, crazy cousins!

It was a late night of singing dancing and just having fun!

Sunday Morning: I made it to church with Kate, Nick and Olivia, the rest of the crew was sleeping in to re-coop from the night before.

Sunday Afternoon: My favorite part of the weekend, ok I am a little bias, Kate's 2nd dance recital! It was on a big stage at the local highschool, the theme of the recital was "Going to the Movies" So all of the dances and songs were from movies.

Her tap song was The Candyman Can from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Here is her entire class.

Her second dance was for ballet and they danced to a Beauty and the Beast song.

Look at her beautiful form.

Kate and her best friend from school and dance, Hannah.

Kate, Mike and I, so proud of Kate!

Sunday Night: Most of the family had to head back home, but those who could stay joined us for burgers and hotdogs on the grill. Then off to bed.

Monday Morning: School and the rest of our house guests left for the airport. Then I took another nap, started laundry and cleaning up from the weekend.

Busy, but fun, how was your weekend?

WoooooHoooo!!! were have'n a GIRL!!!!

2012-04-24T21:23:00.000-04:00

We are so excited to add another little girl to our crew!!!!

(Thanks Carly for Maggie's first outfit.)

Margaret Ann will be joining us sometime in August!!!!!!

I am so excited to meet this little sweety!!

Our 24 week (actually I am only 23 weeks and 2 days) appointment went great today, we got to see a few new pictures of her, she is a cutie if I do say so myself! Again, I was nervous about the ultrasound, but really no need to be because everything that the doctor looked at was perfect! The main purpose of this appointment was to see the heart, which we were unable to see at our 20 week appointment. We saw all 4 chambers of the heart, the aorta, left ventricle and right ventricles of the heart (Heartrate was 154). We also got to see her cute button nose, lips, a foot and her tiny little "lady bits" telling us that she is a SHE!!!!!! Kate is beyond excited about the news, she has wanted a little baby sister since the beginning. Nick is ok with it, but wants to name her Lucas, lol.

23 weeks and 2 days

10 pounds gained so far, I am proud of myself since I had gained...

26 pounds with Kate

and

21 pounds with Nick

by this time in the pregnancy with the previous two.

Sunday night Randomness

2012-04-22T21:05:00.000-04:00

The house is quiet, the kids are in bed, the laundry is done, Mike is at work, the tv is off, the birds are chirping outside, it is still light out, and......it has been way to long since I have done a blog post, sorry my 18 loyal readers, I will try and do better.

We went to church this morning and as we were getting ready Nick looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I wuv church." It was so sweet and totally melted my heart.

We get to have another ultrasound on Tuesday, I am super excited to see if we will be adding a little sister or little brother to our crew, it doesn't really matter to me, just that he/she is healthy. So check back on Tuesday night to see the results!

Kate had her dance pictures taken last Saturday, so of course I had to take one at home before she left. Her dance recital is Sunday, May 6th and she is ready!

Then Nick insisted that I take his "baseball" picture too, love the pose.

Kate had a birthday sleepover party last night at another little girls house, I was thankful not to get that 2am phone call to come pick her up.

Mike had fire officer training this weekend, only a few more months and he will be done.
The new baby has developed the sense of touch this week and quite possibly might be grasping its only toy in utero, the umbilical cord.

I decorated for The Michigan Dental Presidents Award Ceremony this past Friday at the Kellogg Center, it was amazingly beautiful!!! (I wish I had a good picture to show you, but I don't. sad.)

Only 8 weeks until Aunt, Julie's wedding!!!! Did you read that Julie? 8 WEEKS!!! and my dress still fits:)

Kate just started spring soccer, she loves it! She has pink and black cleats, pink shin guards and a pink and grey soccer ball to match, she looks darling!

I went to the Vera Bradley Outlet Sale last Sunday with my best friend Jennifer in Fort Wayne, Indiana and had a BLAST! We both got some good deals!

The kids and I tackled a Mom-to-Mom sale yesterday morning, it was jam-packed full of Moms and kids, a little over whelming. We found some shoes for Kate and a bathtub thing for the new baby.

It's cold in Michigan, I am ready for the sun and warmth.
The new baby has also developed the sense of sight and can distinguish between light and dark, amazing!

Nick is REALLY REALLY into baseball right now, I bet we pitch 200 balls a day to him to hit, he is constantly wanting to play baseball. I hope we can take him to a Tigers game this summer.
There is a HUGE fly buzzing around this quiet house and it is driving me nuts as I type!
Kate is becoming a better reader each day.
Nick got hit in the noggin tonight with a bat while playing baseball in the house by Kate, not once, but twice, poor thing. He cried both times, but I hope he learned not to stand too close to the batter!
I have gained less then 10 pounds so far in during this pregnancy, but I look like I have gained a lot more. Preggo picture coming on Tuesday or so.
That's all for now, I am off to bed to start another busy week. Good Night and sweet dreams!

...and they're off!

2012-04-02T20:04:00.000-04:00

This past Friday marked the beginning of Spring Break for our local school districts, so we are about 4 days in with 6 more days to go. Kate and I are bored at home (well I am bored at home) while Nick and Mike have an exciting adventure ahead of them for the next 9 days! "Team boys" headed out this morning on the Michigan Flyer, a huge, very nice coach bus that travels back and forth from East Lansing to Detroit Metro Airport 12 times a day. (Um, can you say VERY convenient!).

Yep, they are on their way to the airport as I type to catch a flight to visit Papa Fox (Mike's Dad) in El Paso Texas for a boys week. The boys have been counting down the days for a few weeks now! It's so exciting for them, no plans, no schedule, no pre-planned meals, and best of all NO GIRLS!!!

Nick loves his Lucy Dog stuffed animal, and I could only imagine the devastation if it was lost somewhere on the trip, so before the boys left this morning we stopped at Petco and bought a tiny dog collar and made a dog tag with Lucy's name on it and Mike's cell number. you know in case it gets left on an airport chair or something. Nick enjoyed making it, and hopefully Lucy is safe now!

I hope the boys enjoy their trip, it should be a blast! And I hope Lucy returns home safe and sound!

Are you freak'n kidding me?

2012-03-28T16:19:00.001-04:00

So this morning was my BIG ultrasound to see the baby for the first time. I have been nervous for a week and didn't sleep much last night thinking about it. I was more worried about something being wrong with the baby rather then if it was a boy or girl. Our ultrasound lasted a little over an hour and baby Roberts seems perfectly healthy, 10 little fingers, 10 little toes and in the 35%tile!! Thank Goodness! He/She layed still most of the time, completely opposite of both Kate and Nick. It kept its little ankles crossed and thighs together for most of the hour with one hand bent behind its head. Little kiddo must have been snoozing or is just a calm baby, which does confirm the fact that I have not felt a lot of baby movement this time around, which could be why I was nervous going in this morning.

Anyway...We were not able to see the gender of the baby, no joke, its legs never opened up! I can't freak'n believe it! Still no idea if we are adding a baby girl or boy to the family, it is driving me batty! I so wanted to start buying fun boy or girl things for the baby, oh well, we will find out eventually, I hope.

We do have another ultrasound scheduled for April 24th, not necessarily to find out the gender, but to get better pictures of the baby's heart. The way baby was laying we couldn't see the heart either and the Dr. needs very specific pictures of the heart. So, while they are taking a look at the heart hopefully they can take a peek between the legs too.

In the meantime, here is a profile picture of Baby Roberts, isn't he or she just adorable! We think so!

18 weeks!

2012-03-18T20:56:00.000-04:00

About the Mama...

My energy level was up until a few days ago, then I think I got smoked with allergies a little early.
I CAN NOT BREATH out of my nose AT ALL!!! (See picture below, constant running!)

My baby belly is getting bigger day by day.
I am wearing all maternity clothes now, and slowly having to buy new.
I think that I am feeling little kicks here and there, which is amazing, I am really excited for them to get stronger over the next few weeks.
My ankles aren't swollen yet and I can still wear my weddng band, so that is good.
The heartburn continues to exist, but I can control it with Pepcid and Tums.
I am constinately thirsty, so I am drinking a ton throughout the day, making me have to use the bathroom about 10 minutes or so...UHG!
Love'n fruit roll-ups right now and cheese:)

About the baby...

Fingerprints now give my baby a unique identity.
Cartilage has turned into bone.
The umbilical cord is strengthening and thickening.
His/Her ears have settled into their final position.
He or she is about 6 inches long, head to rump and weighs about 7 oz, the size of a banana.

Now the real question...

In less the 10 days we have our ultrasound!!!

What do you think?

A Boy or a Girl?

Leave a comment with your guess! I am excited to see what you all think!

I know what I think, but I'm not telling...again.

The answer will find itself on my blog on the NIGHT of March 28th, we can't wait!

(Even for you Grandma's and Grandpa's)

So you better check!

Couldn't ask for better weather!

2012-03-16T15:14:00.000-04:00

Wednesday:78

Thursday:75

Today:72

Saturday:75

Sunday: 72

Monday: 75

Tuesday:79

Wednesday:79

Can you believe the weather forecast for Michigan in March, unbelievable and absolutely gorgeous out! This week the kids have had half days of school and NO SCHOOL today, perfect for playing outside, riding bikes and getting dirty! Speaking of riding bikes...Nick didn't have a bike to ride, so off to the bike shop we went. Kate got her "big girl" bike for her third birthday a few years back in June. Nick didn't get his last September for his 3rd birthday, well, because it was September and almost time to put bikes away for the winter, so we thought we would wait until Spring to get his. It was such an exciting moment for Nick to go to the bike store and pick it out, he hopped up on the bike of his choice and took off right in the store. After the bike shop we headed to a local paved bike path that was FLAT, Nick was overjoyed with excitement to ride his new bike!

Nick and his new "Motorcycle" Trek bike.

He really thinks it's a motorcycle and makes the "VROOOOM" sounds when pedaling.

Nick taking a look at his new wheels.

Kate was a old pro at riding her bike and just zoomed off and left Nick and I in the dust.

She thinks it's "cool" that she can stand up and ride,

I think it would be cool to take off the training wheels!

Enjoy the sun!

16 weeks

2012-03-04T19:16:00.000-05:00

Today marks week 16 of being preggo!

16 weeks, I can hardly believe it, almost half way done!

Although I look like I am 20 weeks along.

I am excited for the next few weeks when I will start feeling pregnant, and not just fat.

I had my 16 week appointment this week, all is well with both me and baby. I still have not had the chance to see any pictures of our wee one, but I did get to hear the heartbeat again, 157, does that mean boy? or girl? only time will tell. We do have our 20 week ultrasound scheduled for March 28th, so we should find out at that appointment. Mike and I both still think it is a boy.

I am in the "Honeymoon" phase of pregnancy right now, and things are pretty easy, I feel great and seem to have my energy back. I finally kicked that cold and that has made all the difference in the world, I just hate being sick! I am craving milk, water, yogurt and fruit right now. I am NOT liking Coke or Pizza, which is strange because I used to LOVE them both, I hope that changes, cuz I like my Friday night $5 pizza. Once in awhile when I get really hungry I start to feel a little nauseous, but for the most part that is done too. Apparently I have that "Pregnant" glow because Kate told me that all of my pimples were gone and I was sooooo pretty when I was getting ready for church this morning. So kind of her.

Now on to baby...

MY BABY CAN HEAR ME THIS WEEK! "Hi Baby, it's Mommy!"

He/She is 4.8 inches crown-to-rump and weighs about 3.5 ounces, about the size of a Large Navel Orange. The picture below is kinda what I look like, cute huh? I think he has his dad's nose, LOL!

He/She is gaining strength in its back and can straighten its head and neck more.

He/She has both eyebrows and eyelashes now.

Baby is spending its days kicking, curling toes and moving its tiny arms and legs, although I can't feel it yet.

And that's the baby update!

A visit with Daddy at work...

2012-02-20T13:55:00.000-05:00

The last two weekends Mike has had to work 72 hours straight, that is 3 days straight without coming home!!

That is also ALL.WEEKEND.LONG!!

...So that leaves me with the kids for at least 72 hours straight, by myself. Not that I am complaining, single moms have to do it all of the time, so I should be thinking ONLY 72 hours. I wouldn't call it hard work, especially since the kids are a bit older now and don't demand all of my attention all of time, but still, you know what I mean. Especially in the dead of winter, when the kids can't spend all day outside entertaining themselves things get boring and we get cabin fever. I can only read so many books, paint so many pictures, play with play dough so long and watch Toy Story so many times in a day without going a little coo-coo. I am not opposed to taking the kids to an indoor play-scape sometimes, but Mike likes to go to those too. Once in awhile we will hit up a pool, but I'm not not really feeling up to that these day.

One thing we always manage to do when Daddy is working a 72 is visit him at work. The kids LOVE it, and it takes up at least an hour of our, not so busy, day! Here are a few pics of our visit this weekend.

Kate was very nervous to walk across the ladder to the bucket on the firetruck, but with Daddy's help she did it!

Kate was a little nervous so high up, I am sure I would be too though.

I couldn't convince Nick to give it a try, maybe next time.

Nick loves to test all of the bells on the front of the firetrucks...safe on the ground.

The kids also like to hang out in the back of the ambulance.

Firefighter Kate to the rescue!

Till next time Delta Fire...

Saturday Morning Random-ness

2012-02-11T12:13:00.001-05:00

It's a chilly 5 degree's outside.
I set up for a very fun looking Valentine's Day party yesterday at work with lots and lots of helium balloons.
I also had two bridal consultations last night, the last one at 7pm and lasting until 10pm!!! The wedding theme was "Vintage Peacock", very fun to design!
I made yummy blueberry muffins this week.
Kate is becoming a great little reader, I love listening to her read.
Mike works the next 72 hours straight. Just me and the kids for the next 3 days.
I bought a papasan swing for the new baby this week from Craigslist, perfect condition for $60. I was happy.
Kate and I got up an hour early on Tuesday because Kate wanted curly hair, it looked adorable.

I really really really wish that QD (Quality Dairy) would deliver donuts on the Saturday mornings that Mike works, I really miss my donut.
Nick loves to watch the CARS dvd that Grandma Kenna got him for Christmas, unfortunately Nick lost it by about December 30th. For a month and a half he has continued to ask to watch the lost dvd, so I finally broke down and ordered a used dvd from Amazon.com. The dvd came in the mail today...Kate found the original CARS dvd under her bed today, go figure!
We got about 4 inches of very cold snowy-blowy snow last night, I drove about 15mph home from work last night...it was scary.
Nick is doing very well going pee pee on the potty.
I will be 13 weeks pregnant tomorrow, and I feel pretty good.
If we have a boy, Mike loves the name Benjamin Andreasen Roberts, I really like Lucas William Roberts.
Kate is pretending to give Nick a haircut as I type.
The kids and I have no plans to leave the house today, it is far too cold. I think we will watch one of the two CARS dvd's all.day.long.
The laundry is done, the basement is clean, only dishes to do.
I love listening to Nick say KA-CHOW! from the CARS dvd.
The kids and I ate Baked Pita Chips and Hummus for lunch today.
Now it is naptime, my favorite time of the day.

2012-02-05T10:00:00.001-05:00

Yep you guessed it!!! Nick is potty trained and NOT wearing diapers anymore, well most of the time! You are so observant to notice that he is wearing undies in yesterday's picture, lol!

Just in time too, because we are having another baby! Get one outta diapers, get another one in diapers! Have to support Pampers.

We are super excited to be welcoming a new baby into our family, Kate especially. She is so curious about how a baby got into my tummy? She has asked me, "are you REALLY going to have another baby? REALLY" Yes, REALLY, we are! Nick doesn't quite get it yet, but that is ok, Kate is excited enough for the both of them.

I had my second pre-natel appointment on Friday, the first appointment that I was able to hear the heartbeat! It was breathtaking!! I actually recorded it on my iphone, it sounds pretty neat, a fast 160 beats per minute. I am due around August 20, 2012, making me 12 weeks today, almost done with my first trimester!

I have been feeling VERY under the weather since about Christmas, I just can't seem to kick this cold I've got going on. It's been on and off now for weeks, I have even been on anti-biotics prescribed by my OB-GYN and it helped for a bit, but then when I completed the series, the stuffy nose came back. Now, I just have to suffer.

I am not wearing maternity clothes yet, one reason being, that I can't find them...any of them. I guess with a summer baby, all I need is a good bathing suit to sit by the pool in, well and a cute pair of sunglasses! I do have a little pooch go'n on, but I think I always have that;)

Baby is about 3 inches long, about the size of a peach. This week vocal cords and teeth are beginning to form. He/She already has a heart, kidneys, lungs, fingers, toes, intestines and all major components that "make" a baby. A miracle, really!

We have about 8 more weeks (first week in April) before we are able to find out if we will be welcoming another girl or boy to the family. I think it's a girl, Mike thinks it's a boy. We really don't care. We have good names picked out for both already, I'll share those later with you.

I guess that is all for now...no pregnancy picture, because really I just look fat.

Take a close look, what do you see?

2012-02-04T10:41:00.000-05:00

That's it for today, more to come tomorrow!

Toys repurposed.

2012-01-26T21:14:00.000-05:00

We have lots of girl toys hang'n around this house, in fact 2 years more worth of girl toys then boy toys...although boy toys are slowly catching up.

It is fun to see Nick take Kate's toys and use them in a way that I would never imagine using them...EVER, not as an adult or a little girl, but it makes perfect sense to him.

Today, after Nick had pajama day at school (look how cute he is)!

Thanks Aunt Yvonne for the adorable Garnet Hill monkey slippers!

Thanks Aunt Lola for the jammies and the warm robe!

Julie, do you remember the dog Nick is holding? It was mine when I was little, I named it Cinnamon, after Christmas Nick re-named it Lucy, I wonder how he came up with that?

Cute huh! He carries Lucy around everywhere he goes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyway...back on subject. After school, as I was getting lunch ready, I looked over and watched Nick in amazement as he took two tables from Kate's Barbie house and hoisted Barbie's Hot Pink Mini-Coop convertible (that I am very jealous of) up in the air. He continued to play and make car sounds and noises that boys just instinctively know how to make and "changed" the tires on the car. Not really, but he pretended to. He was soooooo into it, really...changing Barbie's tires for her, what a nice guy. I would never think to play like that. It's so fun to see what boys do, I guess because I didn't have a BIG brother to grow up with...or a little brother for that matter (you failed mom and dad, haha). I soooooo wanted a BIG brother, but I never got one :(

The mechanic is done, Barbie's got a fresh new set of tires!

(I hope he billed her too, rich B*&#ch).

Just a Random Saturday Morning Post

2012-01-21T09:13:00.000-05:00

It is a chilly 1-degree outside...and Mike is out snow blowing.
Kate wants to go to the park in her snow gear so she can swing and go down the slide, I think it might be a little too cold...I know I don't want to go.
I woke up with a cold again, I can't breath out of my nose! I thought I got rid of my two week cold, but it looks like it returned. I have a headache too, I wanna go back to bed.
We went to the Shrine Circus on Thursday night, it was much better then what I was expecting. At intermission Nick was all excited to ride the elephant...so he did. Kate wouldn't go near the elephants...or the ponies.

Nick is the 3rd one from the back in a royal blue jacket.

Mike brought home donuts this morning after he got out of work, YUMMY, what a delicious treat, and now I don't have to make breakfast!
Nick went to work with me for a few hours yesterday and did great! He ate his lunch and watched a movie on my phone, you wouldn't have even known he was there, he was so good.
Kate loves rolling around the house all day long in her Dora roller skates, including going up and down the steps in them at 6:30 in the morning, cla-clunk, cla-clunk, cla-clunk!

Nick still wants nothing to do with going pee pee on the potty, or outside on a tree.
There are dishes and laundry to do...Thanks Kate for unloading the dishes, I know it is not the most "fabulous" job to do around the house.
Now Mike is snow blowing the neighbors driveway's too, what a nice guy.
We have no plans for the day.
Nick's favorite part of the circus was the motorcycles doing flips in the air. Kate loved the magic tricks and acrobats.
The kids have gone downstairs to play, and I am still watching Saturday morning cartoons. Oh! Phineas and Ferb are coming on next!
Nick is chatting up a storm nowadays, it's so fun listening to him.
Kate love's doing yoga in the mornings, I wish I could find a family Saturday morning class that we could go to, instead of doing it on TV all of the time.
Mike is kicking by butt at "Words with Friends", as usual.

That's it for now, stay warm today!

What a day...

2012-01-16T20:41:00.000-05:00

We had the pleasure of hanging out in Dearborn, Michigan all day to watch our cousin, Colin, play in a youth hockey tournament (he's 13). Colin and his family are from Ohio, so we don't get to see them often, especially on our turf in Michigan. Nick absolutely loves Colin and actually slightly obsesses over him...so the day was a HUGE hit!

Colin brought a hockey jersey for Nick to wear over his jacket and his own little mini hockey stick, Nick loved it and wore it all day. He didn't even want to take it off at lunch or when we did a little shopping at the mall. The poor kid had to have been boiling since I had dressed him in layers to begin with, not knowing how cold the rinks would be.

1.T-Shirt

2.Long Sleeve Michigan Shirt

3.Gap Sweatshirt

4.Winter coat

5.Hockey Jersey...that he would NOT take off!

We watched the first game in Southgate, unfortunately, Colin's team lost 2-5, but it was to the best team in the league. I was very surprised (I don't know why) to see how competitive the kids and the PARENTS were, lots of yelling and banging!!!! Colin had lots of playing time...Here are a few action shots that Kate took using an iphone, I think she thought that she was the team photographer, because I now have no fewer then 200 half blurred action pictures of Colin playing hockey!! Don't get me wrong I love pics of Colin playing hockey, I just wish I had one good pic!!

Colin with the yellow helmet.

I wish now that I would have bought a $5 pic from the professional photographers that were at the rink, but all I have is a pic of the pic that Kate took again, uhg. :(

This was a super good professional picture.

After the first game we headed out to lunch, I think some of the team were heading to Hooter's, but we choose TGIFriday's, which was delicious! After lunch we went on to game #2 at U of M Dearborn Ice Arena. Crazy enough, game #2 was against the exact same team as game #1, we lost again 0-3, but the team played great!

Fortunately, Patty (not me, but Aunt Patty) was there for Kate's entertainment. Kate has really taken to Patty and loved modeling Patty's scarf and mittens. Kate enjoyed the hockey game too, but probably not as much as Nick and soon found other ways to entertain herself, including photography.

Colin's team took 2nd place overall in the tournament and even won a trophy. Colin's coach was so thoughtful and invited Nick into the (Very Stinky) boys locker room after game #2 to hang out with the "Big Boys" Nick even got to hold the trophy!! Sorry, no pic because I wasn't in there:(

It was a fun, but exhausting day for the kids. By the time we got in the van Nick was asleep with his hockey stick in hand and Colin's team hockey flag before we left the parking lot.

What a fun day!

Wedding Shows

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

Some of the fun of working for an Event Company are attending the January wedding shows that are held at several venues in our area. All Grand Events attended 3 Bridal shows last week. Thursday we attanded a very exculsive show at The Country Club of Lansing, Friday a "Casino themed-date night" show at Eagle Eye Golf Club and Sunday we attended Bridal World at the Lansing Center in down town Lansing. Each show was very successful, exciting and exhausting! We will certainly have a busy summer full of weddings to decorate this spring, summer and fall.

I snapped a few pictures with my phone to show you some of the fun we have creating centerpieces and bouquets. Of course with my old cell phone that has no flash the pictures aren't that great, but oh well, everything was stunning in person!

Enjoy...

Here is a picture of my favorite Bridal bouquet, we made 4 samples, but I didn't get pics of the others.

Many of the competing Wedding Decor Vendors went a little "Theme" wild with crazy colors, but we kept decor simple, clean and refreshing, using only Ivory as our color pallet, and added lots of glass, crystals and candle light to "glitz" it up a bit.

Stunning...

Christmas 2011

2011-12-29T21:54:00.001-05:00

Oh My Gosh! It has been since December 13th since I have done a post. So much has happened in the past 3 weeks, the time has just flown by, I can't possibly blog about everything that has happened, so here is just a little snippet.

For Christmas we did something a little different then what we normally do, this year we went up to our cabin for 4 days with my entire immediate family. We ate lots of delicious foods, made lots of crafts, decorated two trees; one inside and one outside (all edible decorations on the outside tree), and opened lots of fun presents!

Our family picture, minus me, cuz I was taking it.

Looks good, right?

Now look at the close up of my Dad's face, Julie (my sister) and I died laughing when we zoomed in on it! It cracks me up, I am laughing so hard that I am almost crying as I am typing!

Good pic dad!

(Sorry I had to post it!)

In past years I have always bought the kids new jammies for Christmas Eve, but this year I surprised everyone with new Jingle Jammies from Old Navy. I think it may have been my favorite part of Christmas, I made everyone put them on Christmas Eve and "Model" them for me, it was too much fun! I hope that we can do this again next year, but maybe my Mom will buy for everyone instead;)

Love the shirt Uncle Jim!

The kids in their Jingle Jammies.

Oh wait!! Look at Nick's face, looks a little like Grandpa's, see above!!! LOL!!

Christmas was wonderful this year, but not over yet, we have once more family celebration on New Years Eve.

I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday!

Black Friday Shopping at Target

2011-12-13T21:22:00.001-05:00

Welp, it looks like Target has just about everything that may be on your Christmas list, well except for some non-alcoholic whiskey!

You gotta watch this, too cute...

...and who knew that Target had a basement to shop in? I wanna go!

Happy Christmas shopping!

Thanks for sharing this Robin over at Pink Dryer Lint. Mike and I died laughing, especially with the Toddler Sized Shark Cage!!!

Frosty the Snowman

2011-12-08T19:00:00.005-05:00

With a little tape, wrapping paper and construction paper

we turned our refrigerator into a snowman!
(Thanks for idea Pinterest)

I was the tracer...

Kate was the cuter-outer...

Nick was the sticker-on-er...(with some Mommy Guidance)

It was magical when Nick realized it was a snowman! He didn't quite get it until we were done, then he exclaimed while pointing at it, "IT'S A SNOWMAN!!!!!!" in the most excited little 3 year old voice.

Precious.

Silly Sparkle...needed a midnight snack.

2011-12-05T22:18:00.000-05:00

25 days of Christmas!

2011-12-01T13:35:00.000-05:00

It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas! (You're supposed to sing that, not just read it, LOL, so try it again.) Especially since we just got snow dumped on us! I would say about 8 inches.

This was the neighbor's tree, it is supposed to be standing straight up, but the weight of the snow is bending it down. I had to snap a pic because it reminded me of the Christmas Tree in the Grinch.

We even had our first snow day of the school year and celebrated by watching my favorite holiday movie The Polar Express and drinking hot cocoa for breakfast by 7:00am!

My kids don't get that a snow day is FOR.SLEEPING.IN!!!

I love the Christmas season, everything from Thanksgiving to the New Year! I especially love the 25 days prior to Christmas Day, I tend to make those days particularly special in our house, and I have to say we are ready!

The Christmas music is playing.

Last night, while watching the The Christmas Special at Rockefeller Center Kate informed me that Justin Beiber was her favorite and she LOVED him! (Really? you are 5!)

We all know that Mike still has a crush on Mariah Carey, so last nights performance with Mariah Carey AND Justin Beiber doing the same song was heavenly!

The tree is decorated!

My Christmas decor is up, including MY bells from Santa's sleigh that he gave me back in 1988.

The stockings are hung.

The Christmas scent of cinnamon and fresh pine are in the air.

The Mistletoe hung.

My 25 Christmas books are wrapped, and waiting to be read.

(The kids will unwrap one each day until Christmas, they are just Christmas books I already had, and look, I made them look like Christmas trees!)

Sparkle, our Elf, is patiently waiting (In Mike's underwear drawer.) for tonight when she gets to come out and make her GRAND reveal!

Most of the presents are bought and stored away in bins.

Christmas cards have been made and just awaiting to be sent out.

We are ready for Christmas 2011!

How about you?