2 in a day!

DH bought DD "Enchanted" yesterday! She's watched it about 5 times already and actually sits and watches it! :) Guess she likes it...

After our nice "Thanksgiving" this Easter day, DH was loading his van and came in to tell me the bad news... Apparently my van got hit by something. It happened sometime after Thursday afternoon. I guess I need to start walking around my van every day... The front passenger side of the bumper has 2 big scratches and hole. Just lovely.... DAMN! I replaced the back bumper on the stupid thing last summer. Now I'm going to have to replace the front one. I swear that thing is cursed! Great - my insurance company just loves me...

Anyway, I hope you're all having a nice, peaceful Easter!

HUGS!

A day at the zoo

We took the kids to the zoo about a month ago. These were some of my favorite pictures from that.

OH...MY...GOD!!!!!!

In retrospect, I realize that a 4 year old can make you furious and scream with laughter in a matter of a couple of hours.... So I will regale you with the tales of our DD from last night.

I am sitting in the living room last night and DD is at the dining room table coloring. She walks in covering her eyes and giggling. So I'm thinking she wants to play "peek a boo" (yes, she has babyhood flashbacks, I think). So I say "Has anyone seen DD?" She uncovers her eyes and starts laughing. I almost had a heart attack!!!!!!!!! She had taken her markers to the lens of her glasses!!!!!!!!!! I know my chin was on the floor then the fury just raged. I yelled at her like I haven't yelled at her in a LONG time! So I take her glasses and clean them (thank god the marker came off!) and she looks at me - dead serious (remember I'm still yelling at her) and says "It wasn't THAT naughty!" I told her she had to go to her room. B-R-A-T!!!!!!!!

So I finally settled down and we had dinner. She started to throw a fit, so we put her pajamas on and sent her to her room. DH went up to check on her when she got quiet. I hear him say "Are you done crying?" Her reply? "I'm not crying, I'm just wiping the drips out of my eyes." I was rolling! From the mouths of babes....

So, there you have it, just another Friday night at our house....


Monica - I will try to take some decent pictures of my haircut. I know I've been promising.

Have a great weekend!

Happy Thursday!

Happy 1st day of spring! (I thought I would mix in some Easter funnies today to get you in the mood....)

The irony, we're under a winter storm watch through tomorrow. We've had enough snow, we've had enough winter! Let's move on already! PLUS - my daffodils are coming up - please don't kill them AGAIN this year!!!! Come on Mother Nature - look at the calendar, be kind!

My sister is AWESOME!!! As a thank you for the help for her wedding, she sent me a GC for our local yarn store. WOO HOO!!!! The push I need to pick up my crochet hooks again and maybe learn to knit. Thank you!!!!!

How was your St. Patty's Day? VERY uneventful here - worked all day... Just wore my green. :D

I think DD has finally started to catch up with the time change. (And WHY do we have to do that????) It was almost 2 weeks of pure hell at bedtime. She's mad because it's still light out so she won't go to sleep, then she's playing around until 9:30 or 10 and then is UNBEARABLE in the morning! The last couple of nights (knock on wood) have been MUCH better!

{steps up on her soap box and taps the microphone} AHEM! Attention dog owners!!!!! I am glad you love your pets and take them out for exercise. HOWEVER, I do not appreciate you letting your dog poo in my yard and leaving it. If I wanted to clean up dog poo, I would have one of my own. CLEAN UP YOUR CRAP!!!!!!!!! Thank you... {stepping down} Sorry....

American Idol note: David Cook ROCKS!!!! I hope he wins it all!!!!!

I hope you have a great rest of the week. I will try to check in over the weekend with some pictures or something "equally" exciting!

And of course, my FAVORITE Easter cartoon:

Happy St. Patricks' Day!

May the luck o' the Irish be with you today and every day!

Happy St. Patty's Day from our house to yours!

It's Sunday!!!!

Greetings!


I can't believe it's Sunday already - why do the weekends go so fast????


Friday night I took DD to B & N so that DH, DS and BIL could get the electrical taken care of without her "help". We had a lot of fun reading books and looking around.


Yesterday, I was to hold a young adult book discussion - no one showed - AGAIN!!!! This was the 3rd time I had tried it and no one has ever come. So, I am surrendering. I worked until 5, then we went to Applebee's for dinner and to get some groceries.

Today, DH & DS are off to work. Us girls plan on hanging in our PJs this morning then off to a b-day party this afternoon. (Susanne - I originally DID have to work today and then switched Sundays with someone then the b-day party came up - I wasn't lying when I said I couldn't come today because of work! I hope you all have fun!!!!!)


I might (ok, HOPE) to get out and take some pictures today. I really want to start playing with our camera and learning what it can do! We've had it for about 9 months and I'm pretty much just doing basic stuff with it and it has a million buttons (more than 2 buttons is a million!) and features. Time to play! : )

Here's a couple of quick digi layouts I did for our DISNEY ABC album.



Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Happy Saturday!

The electrical is in the basement! YES....
DD is trying to decide what fabric she wants me to make her some new shorts from.
I am off to host my book discussion this morning - hopefully someone will actually show up this month...

I hope you have a great day - I'll try to post more tomorrow!

TAG and update!

Hello, hello!!!!! I unearthed the computer and thought I would check in real quick. I am SO ready for the basement to be done already! UGH!!!!! It's been 2 weeks and I'm losing my mind.... I'm sorry I haven't been blog visiting much...

What's new? Ok... The Cubs are STINKING up spring training this year! (5 - 10 record right now...) Man! I hope that means they'll have a GREAT regular season!

Spring is finally coming! I saw robins TWICE last weekend. YEA!!!!!!! It is supposed to be sunny and 50 today. I might just have to go out for some air at lunch today. Oh, and the daffodils are starting to peek out!

I have scrapped or done ANYTHING crafty in a couple of weeks and am starting to get the shakes. :D I might have to dig out a scrapbook project or start a sewing project this weekend. I can't take it anymore....

In the spirit of F-U-N! I sat down and colored with DD the other day. It was a lot more fun than I remembered.

What else????

OH! One of my photos was selected to be "published" on a Chicago travel website. I am very excited about that!

Other than that, it's been battling the remodeling dust and work for us. I hope you are all doing well!

TAG!

Kazan (Hi, sweetie!), http://nunutoolies.blogspot.com/, tagged me with 7 random facts about you. So, here we go!

1. I am the oldest of 5 children.
2. I grew up on a farm.
3. I was a single mom for 4 years.
4. I was engaged once before I met my husband.
5. I wanted to be a sportscaster when I finished high school.
6. I HATED the color pink until I had my daughter.
7. I hope to actually finish the book I started writing someday. :)

I tag:

1. Suzanne
2. Marie
3. Andie
4. Yvie
5. Holly
6. Amanda
7. Jana

Have a great rest of the week and weekend! (I hope to post over the weekend, BUT we'll see how things go!)
HUGS!!!!!!!

PS: DD helped pick out a couple of the new "tunes" that play (hence, Lilo & Stitch)

ARRRGH Mateys!

Yes, that's right - I FINALLY watched the 1st Pirates movie last week. Ok, ok - I know I'm WAY behind in my movie watching.... I thoroughly enjoyed the movie!!!!! Great action with the right amount of comic relief. I've never been a Johnny Depp fan (GASP!) but I truly enjoyed him as Jack Sparrow - excuse me, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow. And can I just say....Orlando Bloom can come rescue me ANYTIME!!!! WHOO!!!!!

Quick from work...

I am still around and kicking, but DH decided he wanted to start finishing our basement, so our computer is buried...
I miss you all - I'll try to get to the 'puter this weekend and visit MBs and blogs.

Hope you're having a good week!

I dare you!

I dare you not to smile watching this!
One of my brothers made a video of the sledding event a few hours before my sister's wedding. Remember that the 3 little boys (my nephews) live in Florida, so the snow was A LOT of fun!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OsWC1wloUQ

See if you don't smile, just a little! :D

Wahoo!

Baseball is back! :D

The Cubs had their first spring training game yesterday and beat the Giants, 12 - 6. YES!!!!!

After the sad ending to last year, I have been waiting all winter for baseball to start, so I am SUPER excited! We are going to a few regular season games this year.

I hope you all have a GREAT weekend!!!!

GO CUBBIES!!!!!!

Maybe a giggle?

I've always liked Fox Trot, but I could see my DD being like Paige in this one, someday!

F-U-N!!!

Something I forget to do a lot! I need to have more FUN in my life! I spend a lot of hours a week working and am tired all the time. I just need to remember to laugh more.

I've been trying to do this more the past month and I do feel better, in general. Just a laugh, at something silly, something out of the ordinary. It's amazing what even a little giggle can do! :D

I've been trying to spend a little more time doing the fun things that I like - scrapbooking, reading, chatting with friends. I have been trying to go out to lunch once a month, to catch up with my hubby or a friend.

So, what do YOU do for fun? :) We all need a little in our lives...



By the way....the Cubs 1st spring training game is tomorrow!!!!!

My sister's wedding

We had a fantastic time! Very neat place!

Congrats to you guys!

Happy Sunday!

Yes, another week is gone... this was was a blur!

My sister got married on Friday. It was wonderful! (I'll have pictures in a day or 2)

Today is DD's "big" b-day party - lord help me! The preschoolers invade this afternoon.

We are heading to the memorial service at NIU tonight so I'm sure I'll be more than ready to crash by bedtime tonight.

Have a great day!

Just a quick one...

She turned the big 4 yesterday! She was so excited when she got up yesterday and that she got to take treats to daycare!

Hawaii, November 2007

I decided after my "downer" post yesterday that I needed a little "pick me up" so I make a slide show of some of my favorite pictures from our trip to Hawaii.

WHY?

NIU officials have confirmed the names of the following students killed in the shooting:
Daniel Parmenter, age 20, last of Westchester, Ill.
Catalina Garcia, age 20, last of Cicero, Ill.
Ryanne Mace, age 19, last of Carpentersville, Ill.
Julianna Gehant (pronounced Ghee-hant), age 32, last of Mendota, Ill.
Gayle Dubowski, age 20, last of Carol Stream, Ill.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!!!

Our "sleepy" college town has had our world turned upside down this week. The biggest question for everyone - WHY???

Why did this happen?

Why did innocents have to die?

Why a senseless act of violence?

The tears (mine) have finally come....I finally saw video this morning of the EMTS wheeling the students out on stretchers and it became very real to me. Still pictures have been scary enough but to see it happen was just...

It has been a very surreal couple of days for most of us who live here/go to school here. My heart breaks for the students who were eye witnesses to this horrific act. My heart breaks for the students who were lost and their families and friends. My heart breaks for the shooter's family. I pray for their strength and hope they know they will always be members of our community.

It still seems like a dream to me. I want to wake up and realize it was, but sadly, that will never happen. Sadly, there is much attention on our community for something that is so tragic that I truly can not put into words the pain that is felt here.

This has also been a very difficult time to be a parent. As with any disaster, it is difficult to try to explain these things to our children. It is difficult to struggle to answer "Why?" when we do not know or understand ourselves. It is difficult to send them to school, to let them out of your sight, for fear of the unknown. It is difficult to push your fear aside so that they will not see it in your eyes when you tell them they can not be afraid to go out in the world and carry on with their day.

I commend the emergency personnel from ours and every neighboring community. Their response and help was amazing! Many of them were volunteer firefighters/EMTs from other communities. Thank you! Thank you all!

Our community has come together and banded together to support each other, NIU, the students and their families. There is red and black everywhere you look - flags, ribbons, balloons, signs of support and love. We dropped our DS off at school yesterday - though he was jittery about going - assured him he needed to go on with his day and talk to whomever he needed to and gave him an extra hug. As he got out of the van, I looked out at the kids who were getting off the buses and walking across the parking lot and the sea of red NIU shirts that I saw just overwhelmed me! Those kids stood together as a community to show their support and it touched me deeply.

So, I give you this reminder (as we have been reminded here this week), live each day to the fullest, don't let an opportunity to tell your loved ones that you love them, and give an extra hug -just because.

Thank you all for the prayers and good thoughts.

Give them some love!

Please pray for the families of and the victims of yesterday's shooting at NIU! It is such a tragedy!