If I had a Million Dollars....

Logan's class assignment was to write a diary entry of what a typical day would be like if he was the richest person in the world. So... his started that he would wake up to the smell of pancakes since he would have someone that cooks for him. In a nutshell, he would spend his day playing video games, watching tv, eating oreos and milk, playing legos and beating the chef at bakugan. My favorite part of the whole diary entry was the last line - 'Being rich will be wonderful because I can have everything that I want but the worst part about it would be that you would have to sign alot of autographs.'

Mr. Hole in his face

FINALLY lost his 3rd tooth! Now this tooth has been loose for literally 4 months!! About time it finally came out! To add to it - it was so completely loose for the past 10 days that Logan has been twisting it and shoving it outside his lips - pretty nasty looking. His gums were so red from all of the playing he did with it but he just wouldn't yank the thing out (or let us near it). Finally Saturday night he spent the night with our friend Karrie and when Karrie was tickling him and saying she was going to yank it - she touched it with a kleenex and it came out! Complete accident (or so she tells us!) That thing was barely holding on by anything!

Now this is Logan's 3rd lost tooth but the first two were loose long enough also that the tooth behind had grown in so much that you really did not see a hole in his mouth when they came out. So this hole in his face is brand new to us!! I am actually having a hard time getting used to it. I look at this kid with the big 'ole gap and realize how much he is growing up!

Not ready yet....

Why I love Christmas...

* Santa Claus driving a Metro Bus around Northern Kentucky - made my day!
* Lexi 'reading' a book she got as a present. (It was about the birth of Jesus) - "You better not pout ... Baby jesus was born... he sees you when your sleeping... Mary was there...." Too cute!!!!
* Having cookies to eat!
* Seeing Lexi wander around in her new Princess Santa Hat
* How EVERY single item on Logan's Christmas list is Legos - even the $499 Star Wars Legos! Boy does he dream big!!
* How Lexi's Christmas list is random things she cut out of magazines and are things I know darn well she would never play with!!
* Knowing that my hubby will be home with us for a couple weeks straight!
* Sitting in 'my' chair next to our lit Christmas tree
* Friends and Families like you!!

Merry Christmas to you all!

Pictures coming Soon

I hope to be posting pictures of Lexi's 4th birthday and Halloween soon. I am having printer errors so I can't read my photo card. But I promise I will get them up soon!!!

Have a very Happy Halloween and enjoy your weekend! It's a long one here with no school on Monday & Tuesday!

just a quick post

To say we are all still here and doing okay! I am recovering well from my surgery and just have to admit I am getting nothing done!! Which of course is the goal of recovering!!! We were crazy the 10 days between Disney and my surgery and then have just been figuring out our life with only one driver and only one parent that can do much of anything while the other hangs out on the chair just watching everyone!! Tough transition!

Can't believe my little one turns 4 years old in one week!!!!!!!!! Wow!!! Boy time has changed!

I promise to get posting soon as I start getting more things accomplished! Lots of love to you all!

She wants Glamorous...

Since Lexi was about to start preschool - last Friday I decided to take her to the Mall and Libby Lu for a fun girlie day out! Libby Lu is an all girl store where you can purchase all different kids of 'makeovers' for your little girls to gte all glamified! This was Lexi's first time there since she only let me start painting her fingernails about 2 months ago - the same time she started wearing ponytails in her hair. Her best friend Emmy And her mommy Michelle and baby sis Gracyn) decided to come with us.



It was so stinking cute!!!!!!!!!! !

Emmy got her hair done first like a pro - she has an older sister so has been there several times before - and she is very much a little girlie girl. Then came Lexi. She had the most intense and unsure face - but she was willing to sit and let the lady do whatever to her hair she wanted - braids, hair spray, knots and twists, bobby pins, glitter, headband - you name it!!! We loved it all but decided the headband was the greatest



After the hair came the nail polish - alternating pink and purple with glkitter just like Emmy. Then the make up and stick on jewels! She was so proud of herself! Especially the jewels!
I don't know if we could ever get Logan or Daddy to step foot in the store - but I will say it was a wonderful day spent for mommy and especially since we got to spend it with her best friend Emmy (and Michelle and Gracyn)! Hopefully she won't decide that this is the way she should always be dressed! Mommy is so not a glam chick - I would need help from someone else to keep her in style!!!


Just one last pic of Lexi and Emmy - they are so cute together and truly love each other!! We are a little sad right now - our dear friends are moving out of town in only a couple weeks! Makes us even happier that we got to do these fun little outings with them! We are going to really miss them but look forward to some fun road trips! What complete sweetness!

Things that are making me happy..

* Hearing Todd and the kids in the bedroom getting ready to read bedtime stories and espcially when Logan reads to Lexi. Right now Todd is fighting with the two of them and the room has erupted into laughter.

* School starts on Monday! And Logan will be a big 1st Grader!!!! Yes it is a little sad having him gone all day but also happy.

* Driving down the road with the kids discussing school in the seats behind me - then all of a sudden Lexi saying "Logan you're a cheeseburger head!" And then hearing the two of them break into hysterical laughter (me right with them) I absolutely LOVE that sound!! Of course it then lead to "Sonic Head", "Ketchup Head" and so much more. Maybe I should stop the name calling.... hmmm...

* Baileys and coffee (and the company I have when drinking it) need I say more?

* In the car again and having Lexi and Logan join me in singing at the top of their lungs a song from the Mitch Hansen Band (inspired by Twilight the books series). The song is called Jacob Black - "You're nothing but a dog - nothing but a dog!!!"

* We just had a second Sonic open up in our area!! Diet Vanilla Coke - Yum!!!

* The Olympics!! I love watching them!! But I will be so thankful when the time comes for them to be back in the states because I have GOT to stop staying up until
1 or 2 in the morning!!! But of course I have to see if Michael Phelps makes all 8 golds!!!

* Lexi starts dance next week!! Both Tap and Ballet!!! I am hoping she likes it as much as I did when I was younger!!!!

I hope there are little (or big) things out there making you happy everyday!! Have a great weekend and I will post pictures soon from first day of school and dance!

What is going on now..

First and foremost - I think after alot of hassle - the bathroom is done! For such a little room - it actually caused us alot of problems!! And I still have a pair of shorts with a big spot of paint on the back to show where I fell into the wall!! So here is a picture of the paint and a better picture of the shower curtain we based the room on. The room is so small I couldn't get a very wide angle pic - sorry. I think our final step is to get a wall shelving unit and for the kids and I to do a cute little craft based off of the curtain that I can frame for art! One room down 5 + to go!!!! ha-ha!


Lexi is becoming a very inquistive almost 4 year old. Caily I get to answer at least half a dozen - "Mommy why we have cars?" "Why we have houses?" "Why we have forks?" "why we have clothes?" "why we have bathrooms?" and on and on!!! It is actually really cute right now but I am sure soon I will go crazy! Here is a quick picture taken last week while she was posing for me. She is still the sweetest little thing with the funniest personality! My girlfriend Karrie calls her 'a little pocketfull of sunshine'. But I must admit... she has all of a sudden taken on the attitude of 'if I can't have my way I am going to scream and cry!' - I SO wish this will be a short lived thing...... Pray for me.

Logan is really picking up in his reading. We are having so much fun watching him get excited about reading and helping to read a book to Lexi every night at bedtime. When we went to the library last week - I came home with 14 books that Logan had picked out!!! Wow!! And since Logan needs money to spend when we go to DisneyWorld - Daddy is being extremely generous and paying him a dollar a day if he reads a book!!! Better than just giving him the money! hee-hee And school starts in only 3 weeks! He is so excited to be in the first grade and to eat lunch at school!! I hope it last for more than just the first week!!!


This week is Vacation Bible School at church so we have been very busy during the day and since I am co-craft chair - we have had to get there early each morning so I can safely say that we are all tired and in need of a day at the pool!!!!!!!! Next week here we come!!!

On the 17th I had a surgery with the plans to remove my right ovary and a mass formed there (cancer marker tests look great so that is not a concern Thank God) but with what they found - they decided to stop the surgery and just schedule me for a complete hysterectomy. Since we aren't in a rush - the Dr has no problem waiting until after our Disney trip in September. So October 7th is the scheduled day of surgery and what a great birthday gift for me!!!! Oh well - what a great excuse to actually get some sleep and to sit around and do nothing and not feel guilty!

I have actually gotten a couple scrapbook pages done! Not much and most of them are very plain and to the point but at least I am finally getting back to it! Let's hope this is finally the start of my reinvestment into creativity!!!!!


And last but definately not least.... I am impatiently waiting for the release of Breaking Dawn the final book in the Twilight Series. My friend and I are going at midnight tomorrow night for the release party and to get our copy. SO... I will not be sleeping much Friday night/Saturday!! So don't call me - I won't answer the phone!!! ;)

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll work on getting some more pictures of the kids!

Love you all!

PS. Please keep in your prayers my Mother in law Mrs. Perry, My Sister in Law Kay and my friends Mom, Mrs. Hogg - they are all battling forms of cancer and are in need of all the healing prayers they can recieve. Thank you much!

And I thought I would get better

at this blogging!!! Boy I am slacking! I have been very bad lately at just spending all my time sitting on the computer surfing the net, emailing and reading blogs. This is fun but I am doing this instead of scrapbooking, blogging and definately cleaning my house! I have managed to scrapbook about 4 pages in the past couple weeks - simple pages - just getting them done - but I am glad to get back at it! I better get working cause I just spent 4+ hours uploading, deciding on sizes and ordering ALOT of photos from our 2007 Disney trip and my goal was to complete that album before our 2008 trip to Disney!!! And since we only have 9 weeks left before we go.... hmmm... looks like I am in TROUBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So send good scrapbooking vibes my way!!!

Since I am so good at lists.....

* So around here things have been going along as usual! Non stop but not much to list! We have been hitting the pool alot and trying to make it through our lists of sight words to prep us for First Grade! Logan is really doing good with this whole reading thing! Now, Mommy just needs to set up a routine and actually make sure we spend time focusing on really learning - I can't believe how hard it is for Mommy to get motivated!!! Maybe I am the worst 6 year old!! They do have ADD for adults....

* Lexi has taken a big step into being a little girlie girl! She has finally allowed me to paint her fingernails and toenails! Bright pink even! What fun!!! She has been talking so much and is just totally cracking us up with her comments!!!! She and Logan get going into some of their conversations and WOW - we are laughing and wondering if we could market them and make lots of money (think Laurel and Hardy)! I need to work on that promo....

* After 6 months of sitting in the garage... I also finally opened the paint we bought and painted the kids bathroom! After every disaster known (falling into the wet wall paint, peeling a spot away with the curtain rod, the border tape completely pulling up the entire area of paint and the cat sticking to the paint! Okay Okay - so the cat didn't get stuck but everything else did happen!!! ;) Todd is now re-caulking and then I have bought towels and rugs and we are hoping by the end of the week to be completed! Yay! One project of MANY almost done!!! To think, we want to paint the entire front room but since it has essentially taken us 6+ months to do one tiny little bathroom.... hmmm... that one just might stay on the list..

* I'd like to say that we have been cooking out and enjoying the summer BUT - low and behold, when I decided to get the grill all ready to have a great BBQ (a little late - but oh well) When I lifted the lid to clean it... I found a birds nest with 4 little eggs in it!! I did not have the heart to throw it away so we decided we get to wait out the nesting stage! We saw the mom bird in there a couple days later but actually we have not seen it lately. The eggs are still unhatched so I think we are about to safely proclaim the nest abandoned and get to clean it out without a guilty conscience. With any luck we will be having grilled steak by the weekend!!! Yay!!!

Well - that is some of our life lately - I will get some pictures uploaded soon since some of you have been asking to see more kid pictures - especially of Lexi's own designed outfits! Have a great week to everyone! We love you all!!!

Our Summer so far

Lego Camp - YES I said LEGO camp!!! Can you only imagine how much fun my son had!!!! There is a science program based in CIncinnati that does summer camps based on grade level and different forms of "engineering". Logan went this past week with the 1st and 2nd graders for the Lego FUNdemental engineering camp and had so much fun building all different vehicles and ended the week building a dog that barks and wags its tail. Friday night was a little ceremony where he received a certificate of completion and got to show off his dog. Todd and Logan enjoyed the little presentation and video they took of all the different camps

Visit from cousin Kaylee - the kids LOVE it when Kaylee comes!!! Poor girl has to read, build Legos, play Lego Indiana Jones playstation, watch cartoons and listen to Logan & Lexi bable non stop!!! I am sure she is looking forward to getting back home to rest!!!!!! But we love having her - and Todd and I even took advantage of her and went out for a nice getaway evening friday night! All of us agree she can come back ANYtime!!!!!

Swimming - the kids love it! We have been hanging out at the YMCA outside pool and at the pool at a friend of mine's house (actually Logan's kindergarten teacher) and they are just loving being in the water and Logan is getting really good at swimming! Now if only Lexi could learn to really swim so I could relax more!

My High School Reunion - yes it was that time! And i would like to say thatit was my 10th year reunion but we all know that would be a lie! So my 20 year - yes twenty!!! - reunion was last weekend. Though I only went to the informal get together on Friday night - it still was very entertaining. And best of all - we spent the weekend with one of my dearest friends - Sharon and her hubby Steve and her son Simon. We all had a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Saw some people that I enjoyed seeing again - especially Carianne and Andy - and then relaxing Saturday night playing games at Sharon's house and eating Pizza King pizza!! Yum!!!!!!!!!! To keep with the theme - we played a couple 80's games - one about music and the other trivia from the 80s. You could probably guess that I did really well with the music but not so well with the trivia. I am sure Todd and Steve thoroughly enjoyed Sharon and I breaking into song constantly and singing some of the most obscure songs of the 80s!!

Reading - Logan has decided that he is interested in reading and he is really doing pretty well with it! He has much loftier goals than he is currently ready for - but he is trying! We now have our site word flash cards (thanks Karrie) and he (and Lexi) are enjoying going through them! Even Lexi brought them to me yesterday to do them while Logan was at camp! Now we just really have to work into our days - reading time for him to practice! I am excited about his desire - cause I wasn't sure he was showing as much interest as I thought a kid his age should be... But what do I know!! ;) Of course I will know ALL when Lexi is his age!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you all are well! I need to get onto my picture taking for the summer so I can then post you some pictures of what is going on. And see how those kids are growing!!!!!!!!!!

Why did I want her to talk??

SO this week on both Tuesday and Wednesday we had Tornado Warnings with really bad thunderstorms. On Wednesday, I had both kids down stairs and Todd calling form work wanting me to keep him posted of the news so he could keep his people in safe spots as long as needed. SO I am desperately trying to listen to the tv. Lexi keeps talking and so the conversation began...

"Lexi please keep quiet a minute, mommy has to hear this"
"no, I can't"
"yes you can - please let me hear"
"I can't"
'Lexi, please"
"I can't not talk"
"Lexi, mommy needs to know what is going on"
"I can't not talk" louder this time
"Lexi"
"I can't not talk!!!!" even louder
"Then Lexi please go to the other side of the room"
"FINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

My friend Michelle loves to keep telling me... You asked for it - and she has 3 years of not talking to make up for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a great week!

These are things that made us VERY happy this week:

* Todd's brother won the golf Tournament and Todd got to spend Wed - Sunday there watching him and spending some time off the course with him. He really does not get to spend enough time with him.
* Todd also got to spend time with several other family members and friends while enjoying the tournament. Again - family and guy time is so seldom for him that this was extra special.
* Grandma & Poppy took 5 of the grandkids to see a Chinese Acrobat show and they absolutely loved it!! What a great outing with the Grandparents!
* I got to spend the time with my brother and sister-in-law watching the golf tournament on the computer (yay internet) what a fun (even though stressful) time together! I wouldn't have wanted to spend it with anyone else!!
* Friends that are willing to go on sanity breaks with me to a relaxing lunch and to a bead store to do something creative! Now my cell phone has a little bling! hee-hee
* New friends that have come into my life that I have truly enjoyed getting to know. Old friends mean everything but there is something truly special and new ones that come into your life and give you new enrichment.
* The special edition release (Eclipse) of a book series (Twilight) that I am obsessed with that let me get a glimpse into the final book coming out in August. Yes, Todd is laughing at me hysterically....
* Spending mommy time with the kids while daddy was away. They really are great kids. EVen though I needed that sanity break..
* Compliments from friends about how wonderful my children are. Boy does that make you feel good.
* Getting to eat dinner twice with Grandma & Poppy! We LOVE these times and really MUST schedule them more often!

I hope you all had a good week also and I promise next time to post some pics. I haven't posted any of the kids in awhile. We love ya!

What have we been up to??

* Trying to grasp the fact that school is almost over!! He have had our last weekly Church Youth Night last week, one of Lexi's speech therapy appts is about to end for the year and with the end of the year come end of year gifts and class parties and fieldtrips!
* Watching alot of golf on tv and online since my brother-in-law has been doing so great!! Yay Kenny!!!!!!!!!! The kids are loving getting to see Uncle Kenny on tv!!
* We finally bought a new mattress after a frightening number of years of desperately needing one! Let's see if I can now actually sleep!
* I have become obsessed with a new book series, Twilight, and have been trying to get everyone I know to read it - I have even gotten Logan's Kindergarten teacher hooked!! (Have you read it yet?)
* Lexi has been playing soccer!! Yes - very entertaining watching 3 year olds play!! She does whatever her coach says to do and is very literal - if he says stand there... she stands there!! Even if everyone else is running to the ball... she stands there!! Then the coach realizes he has to tell her to move - and she moves!! So funny!
* Lexi had her first dentist appt and did well!
* Logan's Kindergarten teacher told me he read almost all of the 1st grade sight words!
* Todd took my mom and I to the Ballet doing Carmina Burana for Mother's Day! It was absolutely wonderful! Todd and I's first official date was seeing the Symphony perform Carmina Burana!
* I have been actually working more at the scrapbook store since we had several employees leave due to beautiful babies and other home matters. Makes it harder to spend family time when I am gone 3 work nights, church and some other activities that I am in and then some random work dinners for Todd!! Yes - family time is something that we need to make a priority!!!!!!!!
* Todd's b'day is coming up and so is our 11th Anniversary!
* Failing miserably to update the blog or to even scrapbook!!!! But this too - hopefully will change!!!!

Much love to you all!!! Promise to upload some new pics soon!!!

Just little tidbits..

The World According to Lexi

* Lexi refers to Logan as "MY BOY - My silly boy"

* How do you spell your name? "Letters X-I-L-E"

* When we drove into the bank to go to the ATM - she yells "Mommy! The Money Store!"

* Gave her some Propel to drink and she goes "Propel - Oh Yeah! - Propel - Oh Yeah!!" in a chant complete with the Cabbage Patch Doll dance

* While at church she noticed on the large cross over the alter the white fabric draped over it that hangs kind of like a w with tails at each end - she turns her head so she can look at it upside down and says "that's Mc Donalds upside down and it should be yellow not white!"

* asked to clean her room "I'm not doing that! You do it!"


I can't wait until she actually starts having an opinion! ;)

No WAY!

Anyone who has known me for a long time will be shocked... You know that over the years I keep getting my hair cut shorter and shorter with the biggest change happening about 7 years ago when I cut off 14 inches. Well today I went and said do whatever and really she just trimmed me up as usual but decided I should go shorter.

So here is me with the shortest hair I have had in well over 2 decades! And yes it is straight also! (well as straight as 2 1/2 hours at the park in the humidity will let it be). Just imagine how much shorter it will be when the curl comes back tomorrow!!! And no mom, it is not a pixie... I don't plan to go that short ever
again!

Just thought some of you, especially Shaye, might get a kick out of me with the new shorter hair!

Finally

Last week we finally had a REAL snow day. Now our school system has had MANY called snow days - but there was never really any snow to actually be a FUN snow day. So finally last week we got one and the kids got to play in the snow. We got about 2 inches of the fluffy pretty white snow. The kids were so excited and Logan went immediately to start making snow angels. Lexi was much more hesitant in the snow and it took her awhile to actually even decide to touch the snow. But then we brought out the little sled and set up a snow bumper to keep them from going into the road and off they went! It was so hysterical!!! They were both loving it!!!! The laughs and 'screams' of joy were music to my ears! I even managed to get the driveway shoveled while they took turns helping each other get on the sled and going down.






Now this is what a snow day from school should be all about!!!! When everyone was finally tired and frozen we came inside to watch a movie and drink hot chocolate. Yum!!

So do you know what a power path is?

Or how about how many doors does a sand crawler have? Or what color is Obi Wan's light saber? And did you know that the lego police station - the new one not the one I have - has bendable parts on the garage? What kind of animal is Chewy?

Well - neither do I!!! But these are the kinds of conversations that I have daily with my son. Today I actually sat down with my son for lunch - just he and I - and our entire conversation was about his game Rock Riders by Lego on the computer. He told me all about how this building has 4 power paths while it only needs 2 and guess how many power paths this building needs - only one! And that if I walk into this hole then push this button that I can blow up the rocks so that I can get to the stuff built underneath?

So I sat there thinking to myself - do I act like I am interested in this converation even though I have NO IDEA what he is talking about??? Is that what a good mother would do? I found myself doing the grin and nod and saying "really?" alot. He must have been okay with that since he kept talking anyway!

I look forward to the day my daughter wants to talk about more girly things. Now mind you - I am in NO WAY a real girly girl but - I would definately do better with discussing which princess ate the poisonous apple or which shoes look better or should the princess ride on the horse by herself or with the prince (it's all about girl power you know).

These things I can understand and actually have a more intelligent conversation about! Light sabors and power paths - not so much so.

SO for now - I guess i will continue to grin and nod and keep saying "why don't we call Daddy and ask him!!!!" And hope that the time does not come too soon when he will decided he doesn't want to talk to Mom any more cause she is not cool - because I know it will be sooner than I want!! So, I'll just revel in the fact that he still thinks I am cool enough to share and maybe some day I will actually learn what a power path is!!!

This is fabulous!!!

Okay so the other night my MOMS CLub was invited for a sneak peek at the new DREAM DINNERS store in the area. About 20 of us went (bringing our own wine) and they let us make for free an entree to take home to feed our family the next day or whenever. Dream Dinners is a place where every month they have a new menu and you choose what entrees you wnat to make and they have ALL the meat, pasta, chopped product, spices and directions for you. It takes just a few minutes to put together one entree following all their steps and how easy they have the whole workstation laid out. It was amazing!!! So we got to make Cornflake Crusted Chicken with Ranch Dipping Sauce - and it was really yummy! Even the kids ate all of theirs!!!! Now THAT is AMAZING!!!!

Each time you go you would make about 12 meals and I have heard that this is a great place to get your freezer stocked for those last minute meals as well as for good and unique recipes. My friend Erin goes about every other month and she raves about it constantly!!! I can't wait to try more meals. Some of us gals signed up for a private party at the end of next month there and Todd and I are already planning on what items will be on our menu!!! I'll be sure to post someof the fabulous meals I will be making! See I might be a gourmet sometime yet!!! hee-hee

My family will finally get homemade!!!

Poor Wicky

Per Michelle's request... I have posted this sad little photo of my baby boy (kitty) Wicky. He is a beautiful huge black persian that unfortunately had to get shaved today... A cat just does not deserve a poodle haircut!!!!


Poor Baby!!!

update: Per Karen and Sharon's question - poor Wicky just had horrible knots that we could not get out - nor could the groomers... thus the Poodle!

Where else should they go???

Okay - so you think I would learn... or better yet... you think Lexi would learn!!!

After school yesterday the kids wanted a snack - so they decided on YoGos - little balls of fruit dipped in yogurt (about the size of a pachinko ball). I was working in the kitchen and then heard "MOMMY - arrrrrrr!!" You know - that dreaded voice! I run into Lexi and ask what is wrong and she says 'my nose'. The sad thing is - I knew immediately that she had decided to stick a Yogo up her nose!!! I was envisioning the whole trip to the ER saying 'yes - she stuck the yogo up her nose - and yes I do think she did it one other time - no I did not learn!!'

So I could not grab it with my fingers - way too far up. We went to the bedroom for some tweezers and luckily the yogo was just soft enough that I could grip it with the tweezers since the tweezers could not get past it to get a real hold. After I pulled it out - I asked if there were more - since her nose felt wierd and she said "no just purple". Isn't that so nice of her to have noticed what color she was going to shove up her nose????? And purple used to be her favorite color! And what makes a 3 year old decide - I'll eat this one but then shove this one up my nose!? Can anyone answer that? (yes mom, I know, around that age I decided that a rock should go in my ear...)

So - maybe I should put away the yogos and hopefully - my beautiful daughter will decide to leave her nose alone! But I will say she had such a pretty purple nose the rest of the day!