Say Hello to my Little Friend

This is our new camera...isn't she a beaut? For those of you who were unaware our camera before this one was huge...like takes two hands to hold big. I like to compare it to Zach Morris' cell phone. Yes that big! But now we have a cute midgety camera and I love it! Our old camera was slowly dying...sometimes the shutter didn't open and it was getting harder and harder to capture the children being adorable. So we upgraded and I am happy. No longer will you say "I hate this camera!"

Let the Screaming Commence

Things here in Beantown are going pretty well. Nick is adorable, Emma is cantankerous, and Calvin is hilarious. So everyone seems to be occupied with being fun and happy right now. Emma is in her terrible two’s and she has such anger issues. She reminds me so much of myself that it is kind of ridiculous. She has taken to yelling when she doesn’t like something. For example, naptime. Emma used to take her nap on the sofa. It involved a long process of me having to prepare her a cup of milk and then laying down with her until she fell asleep. Then I would have to get Calvin and go upstairs and couldn’t come back down for fear of waking her. Plus if Calvin cried at all, even a tiny bit, during her falling asleep, she wouldn’t fall asleep. I decided that it was just ridiculous to jump through the hoops anymore…especially since I found her one day watching reruns of “I love Lucy”…the squirt wasn’t even napping she was just making us suffer upstairs so she could have some alone time with the plasma. So we have taken to napping in our crib for nap time. She has been napping in her crib for a week now and everyday I put her in her crib with a cup of water and some books and her stuffed animals and explain to her that she doesn’t have to sleep but she needs to relax and can read books or play. And every day she cries and screams and then one by one I hear her throw her books out of her bed. And then her cup. And she screams “I will not take a nap in my bed.” Over and over and over. How fun. Last night while we were driving she was screaming at Nicholas for driving “Daddy not drive, Emma drive!” Yes okay, lets pull over and the two of you can trade places. I was shopping with her for Father’s Day and I kept saying I was going to tickle her; so she’s screaming “I will not be tickled!” So here’s my question…am I raising a spoiled bratty little girl or is this normal? Its hard to find some middle ground here. I don’t want to just let the screaming and demanding go unpunished but I also don’t want her to feel as though I am beating her all of the time. Do you know what I mean? Please, someone give me some helpful insight into this.

I've Got the Grocery Shopping Blues!

Has anyone else noticed how Grocery prices are stifling everyone? I went shopping last night and it was just gut wrenching! I was also just reading today that they are expected to rise even more! What’s a girl on a budget to do? Errr! I try to spend just $50.00 a week on groceries but lately it has been difficult indeed. One of Nick’s best friends Tony couldn’t believe that I only spend that. He said “but you guys make good food.” Yes we do, thank you! What has everyone else been doing to stay on track? I clip coupons, of course! But I also have begun shopping more creatively…cleaning supplies and personal care products will be bought at CVS with ECB and I have also been looking at Aldi. I must also mention that one of our saving graces is not getting everything at the supermarket: we get our fruits and veggies through an organic co-op with Nick's mom (thank you thank you!) and she also picks us up organic amish eggs. Now I should also make the disclaimer here that we do not eat frozen boxed meal crap. I do actually cook for my family on a nightly basis. Here is what the menu looks like this week:

Tuesday: Smoked Ham and Asparagus on Toast
Wednesday: Roasted Chicken with Rice and Corn on the Cob
Thursday: Stuffed Shells and Garlic Bread
Friday: Chicken Piccata
Saturday: breakfast blueberry pancakes; lunch BLT’s; Dinner: Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Sunday: Lunch: Corned Beef Sandwiches with Horseradish; Dinner: Leftovers
Monday: Fritatta

As you can see we eat nice well balanced meals. Emma loves avocado so she has that with dinner, too. Does anyone have any suggestions? Anything to add?

Adios Amiga!

Friday evening we went over to my Grandma Jean's house to say good bye to my Aunt Jan. She is on her way home to Maryland and I miss her so much. I am sure she is getting caught up with all of this blogging I have been doing. Thought I would post some pictures from our fun times together. I love that the women posted in the picture are the shopping buddies. We all have fun together. I love that we span four generations...you can have fun no matter how old you are! I am going to miss you Aunt Jan! Have fun, live life to its fullest in Maryland, I think of you multiple times each day and I can't wait to see you soon!

Jon and Kate are Geniuses!

Last night I watched Jon and Kate plus 8. Usually watching that show helps me to feel as though my life is so calm compared to them. This episode however caused me to feel that I have things more jumbled up than they do. The episode was discussing parenting and discipline techniques. They talked about the various ways they punish the kids and how they need to fine tune their ways for each individual child. At the end Kate said that all you can do is love them and just try to let them know that you love them. And how true is that? I think that I often times get so wrapped up in the act of having kids and raising kids that I forget what the point is. I am overly micro-organizing and under macro-organizing as we would have concluded in the corporate world. I get so wrapped up in play dates and cooking organic foods, and making sure Calvin is visually stimulated enough, and making sure we read to Emma enough, and on and on and on, that I lose sight of the big picture…all of these things are done because I love my kids. And yes I know that I do these things because I love my kids. We have playdates so Emma won’t be socially challenged and will learn how to share; I feed the kids organic foods so they aren’t consuming high fructose corn syrup, red dye 40, and pesticides; I stimulate Calvin so he will be a genius; I read to Emma so she will have a love for books. I know that all of these things I do out of love, but how often do I stop taking myself so seriously and just love my kids?…not very often it seems. Jon and Kate have this so simplified and I need to take their lead it seems!

Kelsey Graduated!

Yesterday my baby sister Kelsey graduated from High School! Yeah Kelsey! So we spent yesterday afternoon at commencement which was well, hot. Thought I would post some pictures from the day! Enjoy!
Here are Emma and Calvin right before we left for the Joyce. Emma decided to be a bull...
Then she decided that Calvin should be a bull too!
The proud graduate with her nephew. My baby sis with our baby.

Sisters (and all my fab kids (I say ALL like I am herding them around or something!))
Me with my sis', kids, and Gram. I don't know what I was doing but doesn't it look like I should be saying "holla' back yo, yoo, yoo"?

Emma and Kelsey...so cute!
This is what Emma did during the commencement ceremony! It looks like she is reaching for the football which is just precious...high aspirations.

God's Faithfulness is Never Ending

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

5th Wedding Anniversary!

No you can't get all excited yet. We haven't made it there yet. But we are planning on making it to our fifth wedding anniversary in a few months...provided we don't kill one another (and please no one take that literally). Anywho, I thought I would post so hopefully someone could give me some nifty ideas for celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary. We could renew vows but thats out. There were no toasts to reminisc over, no people in attendance at our wedding (except for the pastor and his wife), so ideas are a little limited. I am having my fabulous cousin do a photo shoot of us, but besides that I have no ideas. Can anyone give us some advice? Much appreciated, thanks!

Memorial Day Weekend

Oh my goodness, may I just start out saying how much I love our little family and all of the time that we get to spend together. We had such a fabulous long weekend together. Saturday Jaime and I hit the Old2Gold sale at Notre Dame which was incredible! We arrived at 6:10, the gates opened at 7 and we were wrapped around so we were standing on the other side of the stadium. I had such a great time with her, she got a bike, I got clothes, and I haven't laughed that hard in I don't know how long.

When I got home we started planting. We got all of our plants in the ground and also got some seeds planted. I don't have high hopes for the seeds, but Emma loved planting them. Maybe she will finish her dinner if she knows where it all came from...um, yeah right, that's a long stretch!

That night I was singing and bouncing Cal around and he started laughing. Not just laughing but belly laughing...the cutest noise in all the land. Nick and I were just in awe! He has such a low cute voice too and he was just having the time of his life...man I love that kid!

The only truly awful part about the weekend was that I got hit with a massive cold...the same cold that Nicholas has been battling and is continuing to battle (on a sidenote, Nick is one of those weird wussy people that is always sick...for like months on end with the same cold. I guess it isn't weird as he doesn't take anything to get better, no medicine, no vitamins, just a lot of whining...just teasing about the whining...kind of). Anyway because of the illnesses inflicted upon us we skipped church Sunday but then headed out to the park. If my mom were reading this she would say if we were well enough to go to the park we were well enough to go to church...kind of but it is a lot easier to blow your nose in the park than it is in the church sanctuary. The pictures above are of the park and right as we were leaving for the park and oh my gosh how I love that picture of her. She was all dressed for tennis, which we tried but she was much too involved in the new contraption, the tire swing, to care...maybe next time.

After the park I decided it was just too beautiful out to spend the day cooped up, so we went home for clothes and diaper changes and then headed to Fernwood Botanical Gardens...what a perfect day. Emma had a blast and we all had a blast just hanging out and being together in God's beauty.

Monday we did a whole lot of nothing which was spectacular! Monday evening we had a cookout at my Gram's. Had to post this pic of Cal and Maime in the swing...you know you love me! By the way I wish mine would sometime act like a UB but the element of caring is just gone...insiders on the inside know...ha! So that's my weekend in a nutshell "help I'm a weekend stuck in here in this shell"...how was yours?

Firsts Around Here

Emma got her first tricycle for her Birthday and this past weekend she took it outside and took it for a spin...she did pretty good and was so excited and proud of herself. It was just too cute!
Another first this past week was that Calvin began eating cereal! He didn't seem to like it very much at first but has since seemed to warm up to it more as the week has progressed. He is just so cute! Emma didn't like the idea of Cal sitting in her high chair until...We introduced her to her new booster seat! Check out the pink! She is doing so good in it and really seems to enjoy eating at the actual table. Another first this past weekend was that I got my sink shiny as the flylady plan suggests. As you can see I am such a dork that my pink kitchen does in fact have pink dish soap and pink hand soap...I know, I know, I'm pathetic!

Dell Should Give Me Royalties...or something!

Whenever I see a Dell commercial I think I should be getting some type of compensation from them! Errr! My senior year of college, one of the MANY exit projects I had to do was an analysis of a top company and make recommendations. Believe it or not but this two-hour presentation was one of the easier ones considering I had to give an investment portfolio restructuring recommendation to the CFO of one of the State's largest hospitals...yikes! (Now your silly exit papers don't look so hard, do they college kids?) Anywho, this was back in the day when, if you wanted a Dell computer you called Dell or went to their website. One of the recommendations was to make Dell computers available in stores. And are they available in stores now? Why yes they are! Another recommendation? Have a Dell representative there for a more personalized buying experience. And do they have Dell reps? Why yes they do. Here's another one: Dell should start making printers as that was the only thing they were outsourcing in their bundles. And do they make printers now? Of course because I'm a genius! Normally I would think that Dell is just clairvoyant and somehow knew the ideas, except our professor mailed them the project including a tape of the presentation. Do you think they thought "geesh, these people are geniuses?" I have this idea that maybe some grunt in the mailroom at Dell stumbled upon the package, opened it and decided to make the ideas his own. He probably changed the names on the presentation and walked up to the ivory tower with all of these ideas. Maybe he is some bigwig now. But I am sure it didn't happen like that. I am just sure they came up with those ideas all by themselves...right!

Big People, Little World

I love this photograph I captured last night while Emma and Daddy played. She was making food for him; she kept giving him soup and he kept saying "soup is nice but I want some real food!" so she gave him more soup. What kind of soup you ask? "Pink soup" was Emma's answer...apparently the girl likes to serve borsht to her guests. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband to be such a terrific Daddy for our children.

Random Thoughts during my Day off...

The following are random things I have thought of during the day...geesh I am silly:

Is it pronounced Eether or IIIther?
I am wondering why we have 8 spoons for Calvin when they come in packs of 5?
Do you know the muffin man?
Will I ever stop finding shredded cheese under our kitchen table?
Do you have our two missing spoons?
Do you often times find your nose running but cannot blow anything out so only a kleenex shoved up your nose works?
Are you grossed out now?
Calvin had his first poo today!
Now you should be grossed out.
I would give $50.00 right now to just be able to go take an uninterrupted shower...$100.00 if I could shave my legs
Do you ever wonder if ants have boyfriends? Do they date? "Hey I've heard good things about this new crumb pile...wanna go check it out?"
Now you are grossed out and affirmed that I am weird.
I love Nick...I love knowing that he was the one for me.
I think Nick is the normal one of the family...his family that is
Thats some weird normal
Why don't they make the sink stoppers easier to clean out?
When you are losing weight do you go to buy clothes or do you just wait?
How long do you wait?
My pants fell off...maybe nows the time to shop.
I used to hate zucchini
Now its okay
Nick still hates zucchini
I can't frenchbraid hair
Everyone thinks I look like Kimora

First Boyfriends

My sisters (you can read it as My sista’s if you so choose) were over yesterday and little Kelsey brought her new boyfriend. This is basically the iconic first boyfriend for her and I couldn’t help but wax a little sentimental when she had left. Do you remember your first boyfriend? Remember the butterflys you got in your tummy when he was around or all of the minute details of actually asking you out that seemed so important at the time? Remember how you would talk to your little girlfriends about it and all of the questions “did he touch your hand like this or like this?” First boyfriends are instrumental in your life: they allow you to dream, and imagine, and create moments in your mind. They allow you to relish moments and feelings within yourself and keep thoughts and key events locked in your memory so you’ll never forget. First boyfriends are also a good lesson for that one day when you have a husband. You learn to understand body language and when to lay off and when to nag, when it is worth it to fight and when to just drop it, and etc. Who was your first boyfriend? What do you remember? What sticks out in your mind? My first boyfriend was a guy named Ryan. He was about 2-3 years older than me and I remember talking to him on the phone for hours at a time. Hours. And I remember the way he smelled like dryer sheets. So anyway, now you just HAVE to comment to tell me all about your first beau.