♥

Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-02T12:45:00.006-04:00

We stayed at my sister Hollys house this past weekend and took the kids, Caiden and Hailey and my nephew carson who just turned 3 to the pumpkin patch. We usually take the kids every year to one around here but since we were there for carsons birthday we decided to all go together. I really like the one we go to here, Burnhams Orchard, it has hay rides, corn mazes and other things for the kids to do. This one that we went to in columbus ws okay but seemed to be more for younger children, there was no corn maze and the hayride wasnt much of a hayride but in the end the kids had fun and thats all that matters:)

Caiden, Carson, Hailey

Trying to find the perfect pumpkin

Hiding in the haystacks

Love this picture of caiden

Hailey loves her carmel apples:)

Love my kiddos ♥

Hailey always cracks me up, she can never keep her eyes open in the sunlight

...but now i see where she gets it from, obvisouly i cant either lol

After we got home from there we started carving our pimpkins. This is something that i love doing with my kids and hope they will enjoy it enough to do it with theirs when they are older. It is one of my favorite childhood memories and really enjoy sharing it with my kids. ♥

Hailey digging out her pumpkin

Caiden digging out his pumpkin

Caidens finished pumpkin

Haileys finished pumpkin

2011-10-26T09:16:00.004-04:00

I am absolutely in love with Hailey's school pictures this year, i cant believe how good they turned out, she looks beautiful ♥

We ♥ Football:)

2011-10-17T07:09:00.008-04:00

We took the kids to the Michigan vs. Massachusetts game a couple weeks back. It was Caidens 2nd game ever and Hailey's 1st. We have been waiting till we thought she was old enough to go and with her being such a die hard fan, this was the year.

It started out alittle rough with her whining and wanting to be held and wanting nothing to do with the game but after about the first quarter she started to get into it (once i finally went and got snacks:)

She loved being there and cheering...and it helped that we won 58-0 too. It was the perfect game to take them to, it wasn't a close game so we didn't have to pay close attention, we watched but also kept her occupied and helped her get into the game. She's only 5 so it's alot to ask of her to sit in one spot for 3 hours strait but she did great!

Caiden really loved going this year! He watched the entire game and really got into it! His first game was 2 years ago when he was 6 and like Hailey he was hard to keep entertained but this year was different, it was fun to watch how much he loved it. Going to games is something brad and i have started doing 4 years ago and now absolutely love doing and plan on doing every year, so to know that the kids are both to an age where we can start taking them to 1 game a year with us is pretty exciting! For now at least it will only be 1 game a year, I'm sure the older they get the more they will want to go...these game are addicting, being around the crowd and part of the stadium is like being in a whole different world and now that they have both experienced it and both love it I'm sure they will be asking more often to go to the games with us:)

Haileys "styling"

2011-09-30T13:21:00.006-04:00

Although Hailey doesn't have pictures today, she defiantly didn't want to be outdone by her brother, so she had to look "styling" (those were her words) for school today too:)

Oh this little girl has no idea...or maybe she does...how much she has me and her dad wrapped around her finger. Although she's defiantly got her dad wrapped the tightest lol. He tries to act so tough and have the attitude of "I'm the boss you do what i say" but the minute he has yelled and she starts to tear up or even just act upset, he gives. Whether its alittle smile or a wink, she's ends up winning. I just sit back and laugh because he tries so hard to take control but for some reason it just doesn't happen. She's my little diva girl, loves all things that glitter. Everyday is a dress up day for her, I love to watch her because she just loves life. I cant image not having these 2 to brighten my day, there's always something to look forward to.

2011-09-30T13:04:00.003-04:00

Today was school pictures for caiden. He is so funny, because he's alittle shy and not very outspoken but when he thinks he looks like a stud (lol) you should see him strut his stuff:)

I just cant believe how old he's looking in the past year.

I want time to slow down. My kids are growing up faster than i want them to. I was going through my nightstand in my bedroom yesterday and found old picture of caiden when he was 2 or 3 and I cant help but miss my little boy so much looking at them. Don't get me wrong, i love every stage that I've experienced so far with him but he no longer has that baby look or that chubby smile:) I have saved every card I've ever gotten for mothers day and birthdays and there was one where brad traced his hand print and caiden helped write his name in it, he was 2. Now i look at him and he's so grown up and handsome, almost 9 years old. We must have done something right with him, he's growing up to be a very respectful handsome young man! Mom and Brad love you bub ♥

2011-09-30T09:20:00.002-04:00

Saw this today and it made me think of my children:)

We need to teach our DAUGHTERS
the difference between

A man who FLATTERS her
and a man who COMPLIMENTS her.
A man who SPENDS MONEY on her
and a man who INVESTS in her.
A man who views her as PROPERTY
and a man who views her PROPERLY.
A man who LUSTS her
and a man who LOVES her.
A man who believes HE is GODS GIFT to women
and a man who remembers WOMAN was GOD'S GIFT to MAN.

and then teach OUR SONS TO BE THAT KIND OF MAN. ♥

Smokey Mountains

2011-09-27T13:07:00.009-04:00

Well it made it to Tennessee and back with no troubles:)
Brad and I had the best vacation we have ever had together. It was an 8 hour drive there, which turned into more like 9 after getting lost on a dirt road going strait up a mountain, probably more scared than i have ever been in my life, but we finally got turned around and made it to the cabin in one piece. We had rented a 4 story cabin with my grandma and 3 of her friends, my step mom, dad and brother, and my aunt and uncle. We were alittle worried about getting some time for just me and brad to relax and spend together with so many people in the house but it all worked out perfect.
The first night there we played some games down in the game room with my brother, then Brad and I went out to the hot tub on the 3rd floor balcony that overlooked a mountain side. It was so pretty and so perfect! It was a great way to start our vacation!
The next day everyone went zip lining except for me and brad, we stayed back to do our own things for the day...we went on a walk trying to pick another cabin to rent next year, took a bubble bath and had a bottle of wine at noon....

that's a big deal for us, never in 8 years of being together have we done that lol, took about a 2 hour nap then went into a town called gatilenburg for the evening. They have shops every where so we just walked around, went to eat and sampled everything we could (mostly moonshine and homemade wine:) Before we left we went up the sky lift over the side of a mountain, i was alittle nervous at first, i really don't like to do things that i think may kill me but I'm so glad i did, the view was amazing and just sitting there with brad watching it all and relaxing made our trip worth it.

The next day we woke up early and went to an area on top of the mountains where my grandpa used to love to visit and we all spread his ashes over the side of the mountain. I really have never agreed with being cremated but after watching us all do this and just knowing that instead of a body laying in a casket it is over the side of the mountains that were always visited while he was alive, i think i understand now why some people choose that

Afterwards we went over the mountain into north Carolina and did some shopping. We got both kids a shirt that says smokey mountains and we got caiden a bear claw necklace, he is really into things like that, and we got hailey a dream catcher, she has had a couple bad dreams lately and has been afraid on and off so once showing her it and explaining what it was it put her at ease:)

We ended up just going back to the cabin that night and all spending the evening together since brad and i were leaving the next morning...it was really a night to remember! We played games most of the night, me and my brother on one team and my dad and brad on the other, those two were hilarious and had so much fun, everyone couldn't stop laughing at them...in a good way! I liked to see it because we never really spend much time with that side of the family and i think for the first time ever brad and my dad really connected. Brad is very caring about me and always has my best interest in mind and i think my dad really saw that and really appreciated him for it. There are many stories about that night to tell but i wont embarrass anyone (brad). Lets just say we all know how to have a good time together.

I absolutely loved the mountains, I've never felt more relaxed and happy with my life and my husband. Being there really made me realize how good i have it in life. I have 2 amazing children who i would do anything for but are now getting to the age that i can leave them alittle at a time to spend weekends with someone like my husband who is always there for me and has always been my shoulder to lean on. We have a great time together whether its on vacation, with our children, or just doing our day to day routines. But being in a place like this really makes you stop and think about how lucky you are sometimes. We have talked about going back and maybe taking the kids which i think they would love but then again i feel that this may be "our" place now.

I know my husband keeps up with my blog and i just wanted to send him alittle message:

I have never been more happy in our marriage or our life that we have built together. Every relationship has their ups and downs and we have made it through them all only to come out stronger in the end. We started out very young and very unsure of what our life together would be like but i think that we both knew that if we stuck with it, it would have turned out just like it is today. We have our children our home and each other and i don't think we could ask for more. You are all i will ever need in life. You encourage me to follow my dreams and always push to make me a better person. I wouldn't be who i am today without you beside me. You are my happiness and my true love. I Love You!

Alittle trip

2011-09-16T13:33:00.002-04:00

Today i am starting to pack for our trip to Tennessee, this past April my grandpa pasted away from cancer and my grandma, dad and other family members are going to the smokey mountains to spread his ashes. We have rented a 4 story beautiful cabin and i am so excited to get away with just me and Brad but i really cant believe how hard it's getting on me the closer it gets to leave my kids.
I just keep thinking the worst...what if somethings happens while were gone or what if something happens to us...i need to stop thinking this way though and just enjoy the mini vacation.
Both kids will be staying at my moms house while we are gone, we will be dropping them off tomorrow morning (Saturday) and will be getting back late Tuesday night. She has taken Monday and Tuesday off work to watch the kids for us, which was very appreciated because if not we would not have been able to go. So for the next 4 days my mom will be taking them to school and all there sporting events, I'm just so used to doing it all myself that i panic alittle thinking about not being here for them.
From what i have heard the place we are going is absolutely beautiful, i cant wait to see it. Brad and I have our own room with views that overlook the mountains, we still have never taken a honeymoon so even though we will be there with my family i really want to make sure we have enough time for just the two of us to do whatever we want and just enjoy time together...then maybe next year he can take me on a real honeymoon, but this one will do for now.
I'm sure i will have many pictures to post once we get back:)

Its Football time!!!

2011-09-16T09:13:00.006-04:00

We love football season, Caiden plays, Michigan Wolverines play and then theres the Browns, I'm not such a huge fan of them but Brad and Caiden are so i guess I'm stuck liking them too.

Caiden plays on 2 flag football teams this year, one here in bellevue and one in Perkins. His sports keep us pretty busy but he loves it and so do we. His perkins team plays on Monday/Wednesdays and the Bellevue team plays Tuesday/Saturday. He has his first game this Saturday and another one Monday. Last night at practice the coaches had him at quarterback and I'm pretty sure he will probably end up playing there for his first game. The thing with caiden in sports is he listens to what they are telling him and catches on very quick, it has alot to do with the fact that him and brad have been out in the yard practicing throwing, catching and running different plays since he was 4. So when the coaches tell him what route to run he knows exactly what they are talking about. Its kinda sad to see some of the kids out there who are caidens age that don't even know how to catch or throw yet, its not really there fault its more the fact that no one has taken the time to show them how.

This isn't just me bragging about my kids but they are pretty advanced in most things they do, mainly though because we have always put the time into our children and have taught them things from a very young age.

I love listening to the coaches talk about how good caiden is and how they really need him at every game...i know its probably just a mom thing but i cant help but smile and repeat what they say any chance i get. I'm always very proud to watch him when he plays sports. He really puts his heart into it and loves every minute of it, the smile or little wave i get from him while sitting on the sideline always makes my day, even though hes all boy he likes to make sure moms always watching♥

Now onto college football...

Last weekend Brad and I went to the first night game ever at the big house vs Notre Dame. It was the most amazing game with us scoring the winning touchdown with 2 seconds left on the clock!!! We got to Michigan around 4 and stopped at our hotel first to take our bags there and to kinda see the area so we would know where we were going once the game was over then we headed strait to the stadium, we didn't find tickets ahead of time so wanted to see if we could find someone selling them there, which people do all the time. We found a guy selling them right away and bought them, we were so excited to have the tickets and to be for sure getting into the game. We stopped and tailgated for awhile with a family from here in Bellevue and then headed into the game...that is until we get to the entrance and find out that our tickets that we just paid ALOT of money for were counterfeit!!! Ive never felt so sick to my stomach, this guy basically just stole from us, we were so ready and excited to walk in and it was smashed in an instant. Thankfully we handled the situation very well and the lady at the front allowed us to purchase tickets from behind the counter that they had set aside for situation like this (the game was sold out). So after paying MORE money we finally got in and watched a game that went down in college football history!! We defiantly learned our lesson though from buying from just anyone. After the game the stadium and fans were going crazy, no one left for hours, even though we paid much more than expected we were soo happy to be a part of Michigan stadium history!!! Cant wait for the next game we go to together, not only do we both love going to the games but its also time for me and brad to get away together and enjoy each other♥

Tailgating before the game

The view from our seats

We go to about 3 games a year, usually its just me and brad with no kids, once they get alittle older we might take them once in awhile. Caiden went to his first game 2 years ago and had a hard time sitting through it, which means Hailey would have an even harder time lol, shes so hyper and never wants to sit still. We do take the kids every year to fan day, where they get to play out on the field and get all the players autographs, here some pics from this years fan day

Brad and the kids on the M in the middle of the field

Hailey with the Michigan cheerleaders:)

Me and my babies getting ready to high five the players as they walk by

Caiden catching a pass in the end zone...oh how we would love for this to be true about 10 years from now, we would be his biggest fans:)

Me and brad in front of the new scoreboards, they are almost finished!

First Day Of Pre-K

2011-09-09T08:50:00.007-04:00

My little girl is not so little anymore, this week was her first day of school, its very bittersweet for me...she is the youngest and I have not worked much so i could be home with my kids, for the last four years caiden has went to school and it's always just been me and hay together all day...until now, so it is hard to watch her go.

I know most parents cant wait for the school year to start and for there children to go to school all day but i really do dread our summers coming to an end. I love both of my children being home with me and spending as much time with them as i can. I have even considered homeschooling just because i think school days are too long and too much time away from me but I think that also takes away from the friendships and social skills that come with going to school.

Caiden goes a full 7 hr school day 5 days a week and Hailey goes 2 1/2 hours 5 days a week. I know its short days but it was still very hard leaving her.

Hailey on the other hand was very excited for school to start and loved it, she couldnt wait to go back the next day. We spent 2 hrs getting ready on her first day, had to wash dry and curl hair, re-paint nails find the perfect shoes for her new dress and make sure all 3 of her stuffed animals fit in her bookbag (i did mention that shes alittle diva right? :)

Brad left work for alittle bit to surprise her in the classroom with a goodluck first day hug and kiss, Hailey loves her daddy so she was soo happy to see him and to show him how beautiful she looked.

I dropped her off and she ran right in, nothing at all like last year where she was afraid for me to leave and cried almost everyday, so it was much nicer knowing she was okay going but I wouldn't have minded just a few extra hugs or goodbyes wave:*( I think that part of me was just expecting her to hold on till the minute that i left that i almost didnt know what to do when she ran right in. Of course i did have to go in after her for one last kiss and to let her know i was leaving and would be back soon to pick her up but i think that was more for my reassurance then for her. At the end of the school day i got there early and stood by the door, the blinds were open alittle so of course i had to peek in...lol, she was having a blast playing. For some reason though the blinds were closed the following day, guess they dont want crazy moms like me peeking in there classrooms.

Shes still my baby no matter how old she is!

My Diva♥

2011-09-09T07:24:00.003-04:00

Hailey is such a girly girl and i absolutely love it.

I am surprised at how much i do seeing how its kinda the opposite of me, i never get my hair or nails done, never go shopping for myself, dont wear much jewerly, im pretty much very simple. Hailey on the other hand loves it all. It is a normal day for Hailey to have on her princess dresses and shoes and 20 pieces of jewerly just to go to the store. It always makes us and others laugh to see it:)

Hailey started Pre-K on wednesday this week so as a surprise on tuesday Brad and I took her to a salon to get her nails and toes painted. She loved it and all the attention that all the ladies gave her

For now this was only a one time thing, i dont want her expecting things like this weekly shes definately too young for that. Iwill be doing her nails for the rest of the school year which by the way i have already had to do everyday before school to fix the areas that chipped off, its so funny that shes 5 and makes me redo them everyday. But i hope that this is a memory that Hailey will always remember doing with us.

Indians Game

2011-09-01T06:50:00.007-04:00

We took the kids to their first Indians game the other night. Both kids loved it although Hay is still a bit too young to want to sit through such long games. Caiden is really into baseball right now, i think that it may be his favorite sport so far. He sat and watched the entire game with his mit on waiting for that homerun ball to come his way...it never did though:( We got there alittle early so we let them play in the childrens area for a bit...all three (lol) of my children had a blast:)

I gave Hailey the camera during the game to keep her occupied, i love seeing the world through a childs eyes and the best way to do that is to give them a camera and see what interest them, she actually takes pretty good pictures for a 5 year old, these are all done by her

and of course i had to add this one, she cracks me up...

2011-08-26T09:07:00.004-04:00

Word cant decribe how much i love them♥

Scary storm!

2011-08-26T08:41:00.003-04:00

Wednesday night we had a bad storm go through our neighborhood, not sure if there labeling it a tornado or not but it definately wasnt just winds. I woke up at 11:30 because of the thunder and came downstairs to turn on tv and make sure nothing serious was heading our way, went in the kitchen and was looking out the window, it was raining wind blowing alittle, nothing too serious....then all the sudden it sounded like a semi was in our backyard, i heard metal crashing and trees thudding to the ground, our windows started shaking, ive never been so scared all i could think was the tornado is here in my backyard and my whole family is sleeping upstairs. I ran up the stairs yelling for brad to help me grab the kids, we were downstairs in about 5 seconds, the whole way running down there the wind was shaking our windows and doors, it was crazy.

Once we realized the worst was over we went upstairs to see what the damage was...

Our tree infront of our house

the kids swingset

Smashed fence

Our trampoline in the neighbors pool!

Our kids are not very happy right now, they absolutly love their trampoline, play on it just about everyday, the swingset can be saved the tree took out the one side of it but im sure brad can fix that. So thankful that tree out front fell to the road and not on our house, ive always worried about that since caidens bedroom is where it would fall, instead it fell on a truck on the other side of the street, trucks can be fixed much easier than children. We have alot of cleanup to do but in the end am very thankful that i have my family unharmed and our house is still standing:)

1st Day of 3rd Grade!

2011-08-24T08:51:00.005-04:00

Today was caidens first day of 3rd grade...how does time go so fast??? I still remember picking him up from his last day of school last school year and telling him how many day of summer vacation he had, i just cant believe summer is really over:(

He looked so handsome today, so old...

Even though Hailey and Caiden fight most days like normal brothers and sisters do, she was very sad for him to leave this morning and he was very comforting to her, telling her that he wont be gone for that long and that she can have a couple pieces of his candy if shes feeling sad. My kids can be soo sweet sometimes to each other, they are both very protective of each other and always care if the other one is upset. They make me smile everyday:)

Hailey starts school in 2 weeks so i still have alittle summer left with her, i think me and her are going to go get our nails done together here soon, shes such a girly girl and will love it.

I feel kinda bad this week...I have to work a couple extra days because of parties going on at my work so i will be gone alot this week. I had to miss Caidens open house on monday and i knew how upset he was over that, then I had to work last night so i wasnt home to get him ready for his day before stuff but i did get to take him this morning and spend some time with him before school. I like my job, i make good money and dont have to work a full time hours, but during the school year it becomes harder because i leave for work at 4:30 and caiden doesnt get home till 3:50. So on days i work i dont see him much....the good thing about it is I think im going to be telling my boss that im cutting back on my days, usually i work 4 days a week but this year i may go down to 2!! Now that Brad is set up at his job and he has a very good job its going to allow me to be home with my kids more, which in the end is what i would much rather do. Our house runs much smoother when im home more to take care of things.

Well only 6 1/2 more hours till Hailey and I go meet Caiden at the bus stop lol...going to enjoy the rest of summer with Hailey now:) Which by the way once we got back from droppign caiden off was very excited to be able to watch anything that she wanted and not having to share the TV with her brother, its funny how quick she goes from crying to kinda seeing the upside of being the only kid home!

2011-08-18T09:04:00.010-04:00

I have not posted anything in 2 years, working sports and just my crazy schedules sometimes has taken me away from spending time posting on here. My husband and I were going through all my old post last night and i realized how important it was for me to keep up with my blog. There are so many memories that i have already forgotten and by looking back at all my previous posts i was reminded of them again. I want to remember it all and show my kids later in life what they did, what they looked like and help them remember their childhood memories....so my promise to my children is to keep up with this and give them something to remember years from now:)

Caiden is now 8 and is going into 3rd grade this year, my little boy is growing up too fast on me. He hit a major growth spurt this year, this is his before and after 2nd grade pics, the one on the right is the 1st day of second grade and the left is last day of second grade

He plays sports just about year round now, he's very big into wrestling, football and baseball. This weekend starts fall ball, its double headers every saturday, football starts soon too. I really hope that his love for sports always stays with him! It keeps us very busy and can sometimes be too hectic but i wouldnt have it any other way:)

Caiden getting ready to slide into home...SAFE!!!

Hailey is now 5 and will be going to Pre-K this year, its a class inbetween preschool and kindergarden, basically for kids who are 5 and could go to kindergarden but are a very young 5. She turned 5 last month and we went back and forth for a long time on whether to send her or not and decided to wait one more year, if we sent her she would be the youngest in her class gradutating at 17. I guess its just one more year to keep her with me<3

This is Hailey picture of 1st day and last day of preschool, shes growing up so fast that sometimes it makes me want another one...just sometimes:)

Hailey is all girl...everything i was ever warned about and we love everything about her, she loves to dress up and have her hair makeup and nails done but on the other hand she sreams crys and fights for just about everything she wants...and then usually gets her way! Shes such a combination of me and her dad that it makes us laugh and were usually blaming the other..."she gets that from you". She has such a strong personality that i hope stays with her for life, she knows what she wants and will do anything to get it. Shes one part ornry and the other part sweet!!! Always telling everyone how much she loves them and giving her last piece of candy just to make someone else happy, always apologizing when shes done something wrong and caring about us when she thinks were sad, she truely is our little princess!

She will be starting dance this year so there will be many updates to come with that, shes going to love it!

Brad and I just celebrated our 6th anniversary! We have been together for 8 years now and i can honestly say that we are more happy now than we have ever been. We bought a home 3 years ago and are enjoying remodeling it (slowly) and raising our kids together. Brad is now working at the railroad, he's an electrician and he's finally on days...for awhile at least. It's so nice having him home at night now after being on nights for the past 5 years. Im still working part time at a country club, just 3 nights a week, its plenty for me the kids keep me busy enough here at home. We are just enjoying life right now, spending as much time as we can with our kids and each other. Every so often we get our dates night, we love going to the winery and just getting to spend time some quiet relaxing time together. Hopefully theres many more date nights to come:)

Fun For All Ages

2009-04-22T09:21:00.004-04:00

Me and one of my friends Kristi took our kids to a play place close by called Journeys. It's kinda like a chucky cheese but alittle smaller and more fun (the parents were aloud to go on everything, even the jump houses). It was the perfect size for the kids and everything was in one area so I could watch both kids at once. The kids had a blast! We were afraid it would be alittle hectic with so many kids but they were all so good and played together perfect. The ages of the kids were 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10,16.

BTW-two kids were mine and 3 were hers the rest were her nephews. We had a small bus full of kids, including me and Kristi. We played for 4 hours and I think we played as much as the kids did. We can't wait to take them back.

The kids favorite thing to do was race us down the big slides.

Caiden playing glow in the dark put-put.

The boys all ran crazy in this dark room, lucky no one got hurt :)

Wordless Wednesday!

2009-04-22T09:13:00.003-04:00

♥Love Them ♥ And Their Carzy Faces

Happy Anniversay (to us)

2009-02-25T12:12:00.010-05:00

Today is mine and brad's 3 year anniversary. It seems much longer-in a good way, but we have been together 6 years now so maybe that's why it seems longer.

I am so thankful to be married to him, he is always there for me whenever I need him, he works so hard for our family to give us a great life so me and the kids never have to go without the things we need or want.

He is the type of husband who always lets me know when he thinks I'm beautiful and never forgets to tell me that he loves me. He is a wonderful father and husband and I couldn't ask for anything more.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-02-24T22:43:00.003-05:00

They found me-Our favorite Game, Hide and go seek!

Helping mommy cook supper! See how interested they are in helping :)

Hair cut/P90X

2009-02-24T09:02:00.006-05:00

I am so happy to say that after almost 2 full weeks of my kids being sick i am finally starting to see some improvment with them getting better! I took Caiden to the doctors last monday and they said he had croup, which if you do not know what this is it is a horrible barking cough and at night they have trouble breathing because it restricts the airway so it's pretty scary at first (espiecally for the child) Hailey 2 weeks ago had the flu virus but not the actual flu and then last week she actually got the flu, so i'm looking forward to getting sleep again at night now that there better!

For the past 5 years i have been growing my hair out, but lately i have gotten so sick of how long it is and the fact that with it being so long there isn't much i can do with it besides put it in a ponytail cause it's always in my way. So yesterday i went out and got 12 inches taken off!

I was kinda nervous at first but I really like it now and there is so much more that i can do with it, it's much more managable now!

I think that I really like my longer hair better but it was time for a change.

Well i'm off to do go shopping for Brad (our 3 year anniversary is tomorrow) and then to do plyometrics (P90X) this is my most dreaded day but it is getting easier with every week that passes, i'm now in my 5th week so i still have awhile to go. I think that once i get more into it and can really start to see the results i might post my before and after photos. I took my before photos and I just took my 30 day photos and there is some difference, but not enough yet that i want to show all. Well see how good my results are.

Sick Again:(

2009-02-12T08:45:00.007-05:00

Poor Hailey has now been sick for 6 days. It has been really on and off though. All last weekend she was so sick she couldn't get off the couch, then this week she's been okay during the day and then sick again at night (which is of course when all children become sick and you have to stay up all night with them:) but she woke up this morning throwing up already.

I need to find her something to eat that she'll be able to keep down, so far nothing has worked. I feel so bad for her she keeps saying "mommy my belly hurt" and theres nothing i can do or give her to make it feel better.

I was told by her pediatrician to stick to the BRATY diet when they have the flu or a stomach virus which is...

B-banana's

R-rice

A-applesauce

T-toast

Y- yogurt

so i guess i need to run to the store and get some of these to see how she'll do.

Even though she is sick she's still got enough in her to let her silly personality show through

Wordless Wednesday

2009-02-11T14:40:00.002-05:00

Hailey had to have all her hairclips in at once!

Mommy and Hailey:)

I'm back from being lazy!-Again

2009-02-11T13:01:00.005-05:00

So here I said that i was going to keep up with my blog and stop being so lazy and then 5 months go by with no post. We've been keeping busy with work, school and playing.

Caiden loves kingergarden still and is doing so good. He is now able to read full sentences, very easy ones of course but we can't believe how fast he is catching on. He got his school pictures back awhile ago and every time i look at it I still can't believe that he is 6 years old already, he is looking so grown up now, no more baby look to him at all, he's such a handsome little man! :-)

I love that he has no front teeth in his school pictures!!!

The bad part about him going to school is that i miss our morning time to play and just lay around together. He goes from 8am to 3 pm (which i think is too long of a school day for kindergarden) and then by the time he gets home and gets a snack and does any home work there isn't much playtime until it's bath time and then time for bed. Not to mention the fact that wednesday, thursday and friday i have to leave for work at 4:30 pm so on those days i only get an hour and a half with him. We have all adjusted but it is still really hard some days. As soon as Hailey is old enough to go to school i am going to get a first shift job so i can be home with the kids all evening.

On the other hand Hailey is absolutely loving her alone time with mommy during the day. Since Caiden is at school and Brad sleeps till 3pm (cause he works 3rd shift) it is just me and her. She is such a little princess, she loves to play dress up and put makeup on, anything girly!

She is such a good little girl. even though she has her diva moments (many of them) she is so sweet. She always has to be sitting very close to me or on my lap and she has to rub my face at all times. I think that it is just a comfort thing for her. She used to do that whenever i nursed her and i nursed her for 14 months so thats something that has just stuck with her.

I'm off now to pick Caiden up from school and then to get ready for work.

2008-09-24T10:36:00.004-04:00

~Wordless Wednesday~

Caiden has now lost 4 teeth, soon to be 5 when he finally lets me pull that one hanging in front!

2008-09-22T12:16:00.005-04:00

Wow so it has been almost a whole year since I have been on here. Alot has happened and we've been keeping ourselves pretty busy.

Back in the spring about 6 months ago we had a huge flood in our town. We had water in our basement for about 6 weeks (which by the way 6 weeks of water sitting doesnt smell too nice) so we stayed where we were living for as long as we could and started looking for a house to buy. We found one pretty quick but while all the paper work was going through we stayed at Brad's parents and my parents on and off for about 3 weeks. We finally moved into our new home in the beginning of june and have kept busy fixing things up. So far we have painted almost every room and have recarpeted most of the house. Wetill have more work to do but were going to wait till next year to finish.

Hailey turned two in july and we had a cookout for her here at our new house. It has a huge fenced in back yard that we love!

"Hailey's 2nd birthday party"

Caiden started kindergarten this year, it's hard having him gone all day now especially since i work evenings, somedays i feel like i dont hardley see him at all. but i'm trying to work with my boss to get me on a set schedule that benefits my family a little more.

"First day of kindergarten"

So far he is doing great in school and really loves going. Hopefully he stays that way for awhile, i know its still new and exciting to him right now.

Well i have so much more catching up to do but I'll save it for next time.

Halloweekend!!!

2007-10-23T13:55:00.000-04:00

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love dressing up, taking the kids trick or treating and basically everything that has to do with it. As soon as stores start putting out there halloween decorations caiden and i go and try on all the masks and look for costumes. I think that because of the way i have always been he's not scared like other kids his age. He loves it all, even the scary bloody masks.

Last weekend Brad and I took Caiden to cedar point for halloweekend. He has been wanting to go ever since he saw the comerical on t.v. We went from 5 untill almost 11:00pm. Caiden rode some rides but he really wasn't as interested in them as he was the haunted houses and all the decorations that they put up everywhere. In some parts they made the walk way into haunted houses. They had fog machines and people dressed up jumping out to scare you.

Caiden loved it all. There was one haunted house we went through were one of the were wolves came and got right up in caidens face and really scared him but once we explained to him that underneath that mask was just a normal guy like Brad, he thought it was funny. I was a little surprised that that person got right up in his face like that. I know that usually when they see a younger kid they more try to make them laugh then cry.

It was really nice getting to spend the evening with just caiden. We haven't done that as much as we would like to since Hailey's been born and i could tell that he just loved being the center of attention again! After we left there we went and ate at Friendlys and didn't get home until almost 1:00am. I think Caiden was out before we pulled out of the resturant parking lot.

Throwback Thursday

2007-10-11T09:08:00.001-04:00

I've been wanting to get Hailey's hair cut for a couple weeks now but wanted to wait until the right day. I was waiting until October 10th, the same day of Caidens first haircut. His was October 10th 2003 and hers was October 10th 2007, exactly 4 years apart! He was born with a headfull of hair and got his 1st haircut when he was 9 months old. Hailey's has taken alittle longer to grow in, she is now 15 months old. But ever since it started coming in it hasn't stopped. I can't stand my bangs or any hair to be in my eyes and Haileys were so long i was constantly pushing them back out of her eyes. (i think it bothered me more than her). Here is her before haircut picture

She was being such a doll posing for this picture. She was playing with my umbrella in the house (i know bad luck) and kept putting her face right infront of the camera smiling. Don't mind the dirty cheetohs face!

And here is her after haircut picture. By the way i cut her bangs myself so if they look alittle short or crooked, it's my fault. I don't understand how they get kids to sit still for haircuts.

It's weird how doing something as small as trimming her bangs changes her whoel looks.

Now heres Caiden 4 year ago on October 10th 2003. He got his first haircut at my grandpas barber shop.

Look at that ornery face! He loved playing in the bottom of my stove and throwing all my pots and pans everywhere. It really doesn't seem like 4 years has already passed.

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Our Little Diva!!!

2007-10-03T22:58:00.000-04:00

Hailey has definatley got a personality of her own. She is very demanding with a horrible temper at times and absolutely an angel at other times. She is now 14 1/2 months old. I don't know where the time has went but she has filled everyday with excitement and new adventures.

She is walking so good now, getting into EVERYTHING!!! Of course she wants nothing to do with her toys just things she knows she can't have(her favorites are lamps, tv, candles all that good stuff) The other day she crawled behind the couch and got into my makeup. When i tried to take it from her she threw a fit so instead of taking it I put it on her. I gave her her first makeover!

I did as best as i could, I couldn't get her sit still too long!

She also loves getting into my kitchen cupboards. We have a lazy susan that she loves spinning around (although she always gets her fingers caught) We have had to remove all the food from there because she would get in there and dump it out on the floor. I still leave in her crackers and snacks and when she wants one she opens the door gets out the box and brings it to me saying "mom, mom" That is what she says when she wants something. She'll say it over and over until she gets it.

Heres Hailey sitting in her favorite chair eating her crackers. She looks so big in this picture. Her hair has grown so much in the past couple months. I love it! I can finally put it up in a ponytail or in pigtails without having it stick strait up on her head. I am actually going to be scheduling her first haircut next week to get her bangs out of her eyes.

She really is our little princess! We love our Hailey!!!

Throwback Thursday

2007-09-19T22:17:00.000-04:00

Caiden started preschool 2 weeks ago. This is his second year going and he loves it so far. He is excited every morning to go. He has made lots of new friends and is always talking about what he did and who he played with. This year is alittle different from last year. To start with, he is going to a new school. This one is right down the road from our house so most of the time as long as it's nice out we walk in the morning to drop him off and then walk back up to pick him up. I let him ride his bike sometimes, it makes him feel like a big kid parking it in the bike rack next to all the other bikes. Last year he went 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours a day and this year he goes 4 days a week for 3 hours a day. He hasn't complained yet about going more and we thought it would be good for him seeing how next year he will go all day everyday. The other difference is that this year there are 15 girls and only 5 boys in his class. I wish there were more boys in there for him to play with but he seems to be doing good with all teh girls and has even made a "girlfriend:)" already. He is too cute. He told me that this little girl bailey is so pretty he just can't stop looking at her. It's funny how young this starts. This is the true meaning of "puppy love".

Last year on Caidens first day of school i took this picture.

Caidens first day of preschool September 6 2006

and this year i put him infront of the same tree on his first day of school to take his picture. I can't believe how much he has grown. His baby face is gone and now he is my hansome little man!

Caidens first day of preschool September 3 2007.

**See how much of a difference a good camera makes!

Job Update/ Bad News!

2007-09-19T22:00:00.000-04:00

I started my new job this past Monday. I work at a country club, serving, bartending and doing banquet parties. So far it has went really well. I worked Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. I will only work in the evenings so i can have one of the grandmas watch the kids. I don't trust other people with them, just family. The kids seem to being adjusting well to it all. Caiden did cry today as i was getting ready to leave for work but only for a minute and then he was all better. I think he was just tired. It works out really nice, I leave at 3:15 and the kids stay home with Brad until he has to leave for work at 6:15. He takes them over to one of our parents house and then i pick them up around 9-9:30. So they really are only away from our house for about 3 hours. I'm really going to try and work only 3 days a week maybe 4, but no more than that. It's nice getting out and feeling like an adult again but I'm surprised at how much i miss the kids. I thought that since I am with them all day everyday it wouldn't be so bad but i think it only makes it worse.

Now for some bad news. We took Caiden to the doctors yesterday for his nose and they told us that it is too crooked to let it go and that it will only get worse as he gets older. So we have an appointment next Friday the 28th to see a specialist about an hour away and discuss what we are going to do about it. I'm not real sure yet what all our options are going to be but we are pretty sure that he needs some kind of cosmetic surgery to fix it. I am so scared for him. He is way too young to have to have surgery. I don't want him to have to go through that pain. We are hoping that maybe it can hold off a couple years until he's alittle older. We are afraid that if he gets it done now, what will happen if he hits his nose again. (he is a fearless little boy who plays very rough) It is way too painful and expensive to have it done twice. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Monday Memories

2007-09-17T09:22:00.000-04:00

We took the kids to the zoo this weekend. We bought a pass earlier this summer and have only went 3 times so far so were going to try and take them more often. They both love going.

There favorite things to see are the seals, and the hippos! I think they are there favorite because there underwater and have the viewing window where the kids can watch them up close. They come right up to the window.

That was the biggest seal we have ever seen!

Caiden loves taking the train ride out in the "african safari" to see all the animals. The zoo really does have an area called Africa! While on the train Hailey threw her favorite shoe (shoe fetish) over the side and Brad about fell out trying to get it while the train was moving but he saved the day and got her shoe:)

While we were watching the hippos they started fighting. Caiden thought it was so cool. I should've gotten some pics of it but i was too busy holding the kids. It kinda scared Hailey alittle when they were splashing and biting each other.

I can't wait to take the kids this winter to the lights before christman display. They decorate the whole zoo for christmas and have santa there to get the kids pictures taken with. We did this a couple years ago with Caiden but this will be the first year for Hailey.

Wish me luck, I start my new job today. I'm excited but at the same time i don't want to be away from the kids. I will only be working about 3 days a week but it is really going to be hard because i'll be working in the evening. I have finally gotten both kids on a nightly routine of supper, playing, baths and bedtime and now i won't be getting home till about 10:oopm so i'll have to see how it goes. I'll post tommorrow on how everything went!

Slacking!!!

2007-09-17T09:07:00.000-04:00

I have been the worst blogger lately. I don't really know why but i just dont feel like being on the computer lately. We have been keeping busy. The weather has been really nice, alittle cold but this is how i like it. It gets down to about 45 at night and up to about 65-75 throughout the day. So we have been spending alot of time outside.
Caiden loves to go out and play football. Brad has really got him into it this year. They watch Michigan together every saturday and the Browns together every sunday. They have even started there own season on playstation. I can't believe how good caiden is. I tried to play once with him and it lasted about 20 minutes before he kicked me off his game for not knowing how to play. I'll have to video them playing out in the yard next time just to show how much they get into it.
Hailey is teething her molars right now so shes been alittle extra cranky. I stopped nursing her 10 days ago (she was biting way too often from teething) but she is doing really good with it. I thought it would be so hard to wean her but she has already forgotten. The only downside to it is that she has always woke up between 5:45 and 6:30 to nurse and then would fall back to sleep well now that she doesn't nurse she doesn't fall back to sleep. Her normal time for waking up now is around 6:00. It's taken me awhile to get used to but now i get up easily at that time. It's funny how fast your body can adjust to things. I need to be up early anyways to get caiden to school. It starts at 8:30 so we leave here by 8:15. I'm going to do my throwback thursday this week on his school so i'll talk more about it then.
Well these were jsut a few updates from around here. I'll try and get on here everynight this week to keep up with everything. I'm off now to catch up on all of your blogs!

Wordless Wednesday

2007-09-12T09:52:00.000-04:00

Caiden has learned how to do so much this summer all by himself!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Shoe Fetish

2007-09-05T09:53:00.000-04:00

Isn't Hailey to young to have such an attitude about what she wears? She just turned one and already it's a fight to dress her. Her new thing is her white crocs. She loves them and won't wear anything else.

I have tried putting sandals or even tennis shoes on her but she takes them off and brings me her crocs. I have to admit, they look adorable on her!

She wears them all day long, i do take them off when she sleeps (most of the time, although right now she is napping with them on) but as soon as she's up there back on her feet. The cutest is when she is only wearing her diaper or just a tee-shirt. Hopefully this dosn't mean that this is what i have in store for me... a stubborn child! But i'm afraid it does.

She even wore them yesterday while she help (or helped make a mess) me and caiden make chocolate chip cookies. This is one of Caidens favorite things to do. I set all the ingredients on the floor, so he can reach without standing on a chair, then i measure everything out and he pours them into the bowls and stirs. He loves eating the dough. Hailey wanted to do everything her big brother was doing. She had her own little spoon and was helping stir. They got a ton of flour on the floor and Caiden thought it would be funny for him and Hailey to roll in it. I didn't really find the humor in it:)

Can you see all of Caidens mosiqute bites on his arm and leg? He has them everywhere. We can't even go outside they are so bad. I think that he may be alittle allergic to them. When he gets bit they swell up so big and get really hard. We have never seen the bugs this bad before.

Wordless Wednesday

2007-09-04T22:40:00.000-04:00

I Can't Hear You!!!

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Long Night!!!

2007-08-29T21:25:00.000-04:00

The evening started out so good. I met mom at her house and her and my sisters came to the ballpark with me and the kids . Last night was my last ballgame for the summer.

We got there early and caiden was having so much fun playing with all the kids his age. I was over by him and saw our team captain over at the field we were playing on so I went over to talk to her, thinking it would be okay to leave Caiden for a minute to play. We have done this many times this summer. I can see him from where we play so i just figure he's okay.

As i was standing over there talking i heard the most horrible scream ever. I didn't even realize what it was at first. I saw my cousin holding someone in her arms and this child was bleeding everywhere. Then i noticed the bright blue flipflops, it was caiden.

I ran over there and i seriously have never seen so much blood before. I have heard that head injuries bleed very bad...it's true. I carried him to the bathroom and by the time i got there we were both covered. We put an ice pack on him and went to the E.R.

All the kids were chasing each other around the picinic tables when they decided to climb on top of them and jump from table to table. My cousin was standing right there with them and she said she knew someone was gonna get hurt so she said "hey guys" but before she could finish caiden jumped. Well i guess he didn't jump far enough. He missed the table and hit his face strait on the bench. She said nothing stopped his fall but his face.

He bled for about 15 minutes. It finally stopped by the tiem we pulled into the hospital. We sat in teh E.R for about 3 1/2 hours, (i hate going to the ER, they always take forever. Thankfully we haven't been there often!) They took x-rays and looked him over. They finally told us that his nose was broken. I already knew it was from the looks of it. By that time alot of the swelling had went down, we had kept ice on it the whole time.

This was last night at around midnight when we finally got home. He was exhausted. He had to sleep on the couch so we could keep him elevated and wake him every 2-3 hours to check on him.

I took these pictures this morning. It really looks so much better already. I was so scared when it first happened. It was so swollen It didn't even look like a nose.

He was such a good boy the whole time. He was very patient at the hospital and didn't complain at all, even though i knew how much pain he was in. He said the sweetest thing to me as we were laying in the bed waiting for the doctor, he said "mom i'm sorry you had to miss your last game" I couldn't believe that after all that happened he was worried about me. I guess i must have done something right raising him for him to be such a sweet, caring little boy. Kids bounce back from these things so quick. He was dissapointed today when we wouldn't let him ride his scooter. Hopefully the swelling goes down and everything looks normal again.

Date Night-Finally!!!

2007-08-29T07:47:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday Brad and I went on our first date in almost 13 months!!!

It was much overdue. We left Hailey with Brad's parents around 6:00 and headed to Fridays resturant to eat. It was so nice sitting there, having an adult conversation and not being interruppted. After that we went to Goofy Golf. We were going to go see a movie but decided we rent movies and watch them all the time, we wanted to try something new. We rode the go-karts 4 times and we were going go play put-put but ran out of time. We had so much fun (although i got 6 huge bruises on my back from a little boy thinking it was funny to hit everyone)
We went back to pick Hailey up at about 10:15 and she had already fallen asleep. So we went over to a friends house to watch the UFC fights. After they were over Hailey was still asleep so we decided to leave her there overnight! We have never left her for more than 5 hours before so we were both a little nervous about how she would do or what she would think if she woke up in the night. I was expecting a phone call around 5:00am, Hailey always wakes up then, but i didn't get one. When i woke up in the morning i rolled over and looked at the clock and it was 9:52! I couldn't believe it! I hurried and got dressed and practically ran over there.

She was playing outside with her grandma. She was fine and did so good. She did wake up around 5:00 ate a little bit of a poptart, played for about 30 minutes and fell back to sleep. I was so nervous only because i still breastfeed. I fed her saturday morning and was going to feed her when we got back saturday night but she was already asleep. So she went a full 24 hours without being nursed!

We had alot of 1st that night, 1st date night, 1st time leaving Hailey overnight, 1st time not nursing her. This is kind of exciting for me, i've realized i can go and do more things now and that she will be fine with someone else. Brad and I have decided we want to do this every couple weeks. We really needed that time together.

Slip-n-Slide

2007-08-23T23:36:00.001-04:00

I realized that i haven't been on here in awhile, this week just flew by. For an update on my guilty feelings I am so much better. We all have those days that we feel down and out of it, i know that and it really did help me to hear that i am not the only mother who goes to bed worrying or feeling guilty. I have really concentrated on spending quality time with each child, I decided that Caiden can stay up an hour later than Hailey and that gives me and him time to play and cuddle before bed. He loves not going to bed at his normal bedtime. Too bad this can't last long though, school starts on the 4th and he's gonna have to go back to his bedtime then, but were enjoying it for now.

He is so excited about going to school. He is going to a new one this year. I liked his last preschool but it was very expensive and i felt that they didn't put enough time into each child. For example caiden can write his first and last name very good and i helped him everyday at school when i dropped him off for about the first half. For the second half i decided to let him go in by himself and let the teachers help him or even let him do it by himself. I saw at the end of the year that the whole second half he didn't write his name once, all he did was scribble. I know that there are more children that teachers but not one day did they sit down with him and help him. It was always the same with his art work too. If he didn't feel like doing anything they they didn't make him do it, most things came home just scribbled on. I feel that he is there to learn not play, he can do that at home...for free. So anyways we are going to try this new school and hopefully he likes it. He will be going Mon-Thurs 8:30-11:30. Last year he only went 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours a day so this will be a big adjustment for him, and me. It will be weird not having him here all day with me but i guess i better get used to it cause from here on out that is how it will be. My baby is growing up too fast.

We are enjoying the last days of summer. The weather was beautiful today and we spent the whole day outside. We started at my aunt pool and then went to Brad's parents house to let the kids play on the slip-n-slide. They both love it! We played out there on it for about 2 hours.

Caiden was surfing on his spider-man surf board, he was actually doing pretty good. He would run and put the surf board under his knees and make it from one end to the other!

I was surprised at how much Hailey liked it too. She can't walk on it by herself without slipping and falling down so she was getting alittle frustrated with that but she did find one good use for it...

The kids were completely wore out by bedtime, they were both asleep by 9:15 (which is very good for my kids). So i guess i should get to bed too, i should take advantage of their early bedtime.

That Guilty Feeling

2007-08-21T00:13:00.000-04:00

I know that along with being a parent comes guilt. I've realized this from the day my babies were born, feeling guilty about letting the nurses take care of them at night or when bringing them home realizing I let too many hours pass before changing a diaper. I know that it is just part of being a mom but i hate how somedays at the end of the day i feel guilty over the things i didn't do with my children.
Most days I am 100% devoted to my kids but I do have my off days. Sometimes I am tired or cranky and don't have the patience or the energy to put my all into them. Is that being a lazy parent?
Today all Caiden wanted to do was play in the basement and I kept putting it off and when i finally did go down to play with him it only lasted about 20 minutes before I decided we needed to come upstairs to play something else. I feel like my patience with him somedays just isn't fair to him. Granted he is testing me every minute anymore and not listening at all but before Hailey was born I would sit down and spend all the time in the world catering to anything he needed, now all that time isn't there. It is consumed with chasing a 1 year old all over and trying to get my 4 yr old to listen.
Somedays i feel like i spend more time disiplining and yelling at him than i do playing with him. I think that the change in his attitude and personality is my fault. I need to find someway to spend more quality "big boy" time with him. Doing things that we used to do just me, him and Brad. I have been saying this for awhile but I've noticed it more lately and something really needs to change.
I hate feeling like this at the end of the day. I just want to go in and wake him and tell him I love him and that we'll play all day tomorrow (but i wont), instead i'll just kiss him quietly and try harder tomorrow!

The Fair

2007-08-18T09:03:00.001-04:00

I used to love going to the fair every year. I don't know if I just got older or if they just aren't as good as they used to be. You have to pay 7 dollars per person to get in, even if your not riding anything! I can understand paying that for the rides but not to walk around and look at animals.

I took the kids this past week. Neither of them really liked it. Hailey is just at that age where she wants her freedom, not the stroller and Caiden says the kiddy rides are too "baby" for him. (When did my little boy stop being my baby?) and hes still too small to the ride the big rides.

I'm not a big fan of fair rides anyways, they don't look very safe.

So we spent most of our time in the animal barns. That was the one things both the kids really liked. We went through every barn there and through the pony and horse barns twice. Caiden had to try and pet every horse, Hailey even got to pet a couple.

I'm always nervous letting him pet the animals, you never know when they might bite. They both really liked the goats too. (the goats and the horses were the least smelly)

Caiden was so funny. When looking at the cows he asked what that thing was that was hanging between their legs so i told him thats where our milk came from, he was kinda discusted by that, then he was asking what else we use animals for so i told him where we got hamburger and chicken and ham. If only i could have taken a picture of his face. I hope i didn't turn him into a vegaterian!!!

He did end up riding all the rides once, after waiting ten minutes in each line and then only to have him stare at me while on the ride telling me how slow they were going. He found one good thing about one of the rides though. He turned the handle bars into guns (he loves guns everywhere we go he thinks he needs to get a new one)

I finally let Hailey out of her stroller to walk around alittle. She really wanted to ride with Caiden but I know her too well. She would never stay sitting in the seat, halfway through the ride we would have to stop it to get her out. But she had fun just walking around.

Yes she is sticking her tounge out at me, that is her new thing she does!

Wordless Wednesday

2007-08-15T00:04:00.000-04:00

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2007-08-13T23:34:00.000-04:00

This weekend was so busy for us, we had something planned for every night.

On friday was my cousin's bachlorette party. We all went out to eat at TGI Fridays and then they went over to Kelleys Island on the booze cruise. The booze cruise is exactly what it sounds like, a party boat that takes you over to the island. It drops you off there for a couple hours than takes you back, you stay on the boat for about an hour there and another hour back. I didn't go on it with them. I still nurse Hailey and have never left her before at night time so i felt that it wouldn't be a good idea to go.

On saturday Brad, Hailey and I (caiden was away for the weekend) went to my sister's best friends wedding- did you catch all that?!! It was so beautiful and Hailey really seemed to enjoy herself. She loved being free to walk around the room and do as she pleased. She was so funny when the music started playing out on the dance floor shaking her butt!!! She dances anytime she hears music.

Then finally on Sunday was my cousins bridal shower. I don't know if i mentioned it but i am one of the bridesmaid. So i was there from about 12:00-4:00. It turned out really nice, we had about 40 people show up and My cousin got so many nice gifts. After seeing all the things she got for her house it really makes me want to go shopping.

I felt kinda bad having our weekend so packed when it is Brads only days off I felt that i didn't really get to spend much time with him before he had to go back to work again. Hopefully everything slows down a little (at least for awhile!!!)

I put together a slideshow for the whole weekend, way to many pictures to post them individually. and yes i am wearing the same dress for the wedding and the shower. I bought me and Hailey an outfit to wear to the shower and completely forgot about the wedding so i had to wear it twice, the good thing was that no one from the wedding was at the shower other than my sister and mom.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I have to let everyone know about a contest going on over at when 2 became 3, she is giving away a beautiful wrap. I would love to win this. I have used wraps of friends every once in awhile and have just loved the closeness feeling of having Hailey lay against me. I have yet to purchase my own though so this would be perfect for me. All you have to do is head on over there to sign up. Contest ends August 22 at 9:00am.

Good luck!!!

My little helpers!

2007-08-09T00:33:00.000-04:00

Caiden has recentely started taking an interest in helping me clean. He is so funny, the other day i told him we would go to the pool as soon as i straitened the house up, well i finished the kitchen and went into the livingroom only to find it SPOTLESS! He cleaned everything! He put all the toys away, took all the clothes to whosever room they belonged and even dusted (with a baby wipe). He then told me that since everything was cleaned we could now stay at the pool for 6 hours!

Since then almost everyday he has been helping me clean, mostly just the livingroom and his bedroom but it's a good start. He told me yesterday that i don't need to worry about cleaning anymore, when he thinks it needs done he will do it, i can just rest! Isn't he the sweetest little boy?!!!

Although Hailey is only 1 she wants to help too. I was cleaning the kitchen tonight and was getting ready to mop when Hailey grabbed the broom and started pushing it back and forward across the kitchen. At the rate my kids are going, i should have the cleanest house in the world!!!

I'll have to get some pictures of Caiden cleaning too, just to show you how determined he is when he cleans.

********************************************************************

Last sunday Brad started working 3rd shift. It's been kinda hard for me to adjust getting used to him not being home at night. It is so much easier to put the kids to bed when there is two of us, he usually put Caiden to bed while I fed Hailey and then layed her down. It does give me more time at night to do whatever it is that i want, like watch my favorite t.v. shows (sex and the city) instead of something we both can agree on, it has also given me more time to get on here and blog! But i find myself staying up way to late instead of going to bed like i know i should. I'm actually looking forward to this weekend when Brad will be home at night and will be in bed with me. (i'm kind of a baby when it comes to being alone). I've gotten so used to him always being there and laying beside me that it's going to take me awhile to get used to his new schedule. The one thing i don't want to do is let the kids start sleeping with me. We have worked so hard to get them in there own beds that i don't want to start all over.

This evening it was just me and Hailey, Brad is of course at work and Caiden is at his grandma's house. She picked him up earlier and took him to get his pictures done and then he stayed there for the night. It gave me and Hailey some one on one time to play.

I took some pictures of caiden just before he left, he looked so handsome and grown up.

See that spider-man chair behind Caiden. Hailey has the same one exept it's a princess one. I don't know if maybe she just missed Caiden this evening or what but she wanted to sit in it all evening. She wanted nothing to do with her pretty princess one, just his!

She looks so content in it, watching Elmo!

Can you tell that i am by myself and have no one to talk to? I just keep rambling on. Well i really should be getting to sleep now!

Wordless Wednesday

2007-08-08T02:43:00.000-04:00

"The only thing worth stealing is a kiss from a sleeping child"

Rob Zombie's Halloween

2007-08-08T01:29:00.000-04:00

**Inside every one us, there exists a dark side. Most people rise above it, but some are consumed by it. Until there is nothing left, but pure evil. **

I love scary movies!
On August 31st one of the best and scariest Halloween movie's yet will be out on the big screen. Written and directed by Rob Zombie.
I think that Zombie will have made a awesome horror film. He is a real horror fan and he did a GREAT job with the House of 1,000 Corpses remake and Devil's Rejects. You can check out an interview with Rob Zombie and find out more on his point of views of the movie
at Halloween the movie.

On Halloween 1963 in Haddenfield, 6-year-old Michael Myers estranged and mentally unstable, is imprisoned in Smith's Grove Sanitarium under the care of Dr. Sam Loomis for the murders of his mother's boyfriend, his older sister, and her boyfriend. Now, 15 years later, he is accidentally released and now in search of his baby sister Laurie. Dr. Loomis must warn the residents of Haddenfield and get to Laurie before Michael does.

Tell me that this doesn't scare you?

My favorite scary movie so far is the very 1st Halloween movie. Myers is beyond eerie and the acting is good and almost too real. After watching that movie, i was terrified of the "Jason" mask.
I think that this one just may be even scarier and better. It has an awesome trailer that has me so anxious to see what the outcome of the movie will be!

To find out more on the newest Halloween Movie click on Halloween the movie

DING, DING, DING!!!

2007-08-06T22:53:00.000-04:00

Somedays i feel like i have 3 children instead of two. I love my husband dearly but he is such a kid at heart. Always wrestling, screaming, playing ball in the house basically everything you tell your children not to do. I guess thats why the kids love it so much when he's home.
Caiden went to some garage sales with me on sunday and at the very last one he saw a couple pairs of boxing gloves, one was spiderman and the other was the hulk (in case you don't know when they play superheroes caiden is always spiderman and brad is always the hulk!) So caiden just had to get them. When Brad got home from work that night Caiden ran out to meet him with his hands behind his back and punched Brad right in the stomach. Well that started it and from there here's what happened...

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

They both love the boxing gloves but me, i could do without them. Since buying them i have been hit more times than i perfer.

Tubing/Swimming

2007-08-05T23:02:00.000-04:00

We have been doing everything we can lately to take advantage of the hot weather. A couple days ago Brad and I got our first day together without the kids!!! (first day in 13 months!)

We went tubing out on his parents boat. I haven't been able to go in 2 years, last summer i was 9 months pregnant and didn't think Hailey would appreciate it.

We had so much fun, Brad went first and after a couple times of getting thrown out he did really good. Next me and my sister in-law (she's my age) Sheena went. We decided that we wanted to try and go together, not a good idea, trying to fit 2 people in the tube and not knocking each other out wasn't easy. We held on for a long time and then got knocked over. I never knew water could hurt that bad. when we fell out i slammed down face first in the water and sheena got thrown up in the air and then hit the water. After that i was done for the day, at least until next time. If you've never been tubing you gotta try it, it's so fun!

Here's some pictures...

I'm still trying to teach Brad how to use the zoom button on the camera:-)

The next day it was about 95 degrees out so I took the kids to the pool to swim. Hailey is getting so much better in the water, although it's non-stop for me. Since she can walk now she thinks shes big enough to walk all over the baby pool. She does good in the really shallow area but once it gets alittle deeper she falls down and the water goes above her head. That only happened once, once i realized it i couldn't take my hands off her. You would think that would slow her down or maybe even scare her, but not Hailey it only made her want to try even harder to get in the deeper end of the baby pool.

Caiden loves going there, it seems like all the kids there are boys his age. I guess there must have been something in the water that year! Every boy there had a squirt gun (thanks to me) and they had squirt gun fights all day. We stayed for about 3 1/2 hours. I'll tell you what though, we all slept good that night!

Caiden doing a cannonball!

Hailey going non-stop in her pretty ruffled bathing suit!

Contests!!!

2007-08-03T08:43:00.000-04:00

There are soo many contests going on right now that i just had to get in a few of them, hopefully i'll win something!

1. I can't believe this one, do you know how much i could use this right now!!!
Over at Ashwin’s blog, you will find one crazy blog owner!! You can win $2500!! To enter just copy this text and paste it in your blog!! But hurry, this competition will not last long! So get posting!
2.MUMS THE WORD is have a giveaway from Betty & Dean. She will choose TWO winners and the prizes are shown on her blog.... Just leave a comment w/ your favorite saying or quote. The winners will be picked on Tuesday, August 7th at 10PM.
3. Crunchy Domestic Goddess is celebrating the grand opening of her new CafePress store Cute As A Bug, Head on over there to win a t-shirt from the store. There are currently 25 to choose from!
4. Gymboree (my favorite childrens store!!!)is offering two of Love Shak, Baby's readers each a $250 Gift Card to be used at the Gymboree store or Gymboree online.So get over there for all the details. You need to know what kind of comment to leave on the giveaway post to be entered!
5. 5 Minutes for Mom have an Insignia® 37″ Flat-Panel LCD HDTV from Best Buy, to give to one very lucky person!!Go to 5 Minutes for Mom to enter this awesome giveaway, my husband would love me forever!!! Also sign up for one of their Babeebrite three lights from Mommy Bee Happy.

Throwback Thursday

2007-08-02T13:56:00.000-04:00

This picture was taken of my dad, me and my sister 23 years ago. It was taken in January of 1984. At the time i was 1 1/2 months old, my sister was 2 and my dad was 23. (Don't you just love the constipated look on my face?)

This picture was taken this past February of 2007. It's my dad who at the time of the picture was 46, me who is 23, Caiden is 4 and Hailey was 7 months old. I thought it was a really cool throwback picture because in the first one my dad was 23 yrs. old with his 2 children and in the second one i am 23 years old with my 2 children and my dad is still right there with me.

To join in on Throwback Thursday just head over to the Pinks & Blues Girls and sign Mr. Linky.

I also want to let everyone know about a contest that Adventures in Babywearing is having right now. She is giving away a $75.00 gift certifiacte to Chittypulga, the finest childrens boutique & magazine on the web today. You have until 9pm on Friday to sign up. Good Luck!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2007-08-01T17:45:00.001-04:00

He put Haileys leggings on by himself and was sitting in her elmo chair when i came in the living room. He doesn't look too happy that I took his picture! This will be a good one in about 10 years to show his girlfriend!

Camping

2007-07-30T17:17:00.000-04:00

This past weekend we went camping with my family, every year my step-dads side of the family all go together. This year there were only about 6 families that went, but it worked out really good cause all the little kids were about 5 years old. Caiden had so much fun.

When we first got there we went to the beach. The water was so shallow, the highest it got was to my waist, but i guess thats perfect for his age. There was a huge slide that the kids could go on (we couldn't believe how much it was though, 10.00 per person) they could go all day for that but still it's just a slide. After about 10 times going down it he had had enough. Hailey didn't go in the water too much, she's not a big fan of the sand (or maybe the smell)

All the kids brought their bikes so they spent most of the time riding around and going on the bike trails. By bedtime they were completely wore out, caiden actually told us he wanted to go in the tent to go to bed!!!

Some advice for anyone with a 1 year old, wait another year to take them camping. Although we loved going and having Hailey there with us it was more of a hassle than it was relaxing. We spent more time trying to keep rock and leaves out of her mouth and trying to keep her away from the fire than anything else. Now that she is walking everywhere we didn't get a moments rest. She also didn't sleep good there. For the last month now Hailey has been sleeping all night and has been going to bed about 10:00 and waking up around 7:00. There she didn't go to bed until 1:00am (and to get her to sleep i had to walk her around in the stroller for 1/2 hour) and she was up by 6:30 to eat.

We found out how rotten Hailey is!:-) My aunts little boy is 2 weeks older than Hailey and everytime she saw him she would try to pinch him or pull his hair or bite him, for no reason at all. I wonder if she just felt threatened by someone else her age, but we really need to keep our eye on her when she's around other kids.

In the we all had fun so i guess thats all that matters:-)

By the way Hailey found her new favorite snack-Cheetohs, the messest food ever!!

Rock Star Baby Contest!

2007-07-26T16:52:00.001-04:00

Drea is having a contest giving away some really cool items from MyRockstarBaby. This contest ends tonight so hurray up and sign up!!

Aren't these so cute..

They are also looking for some new saying to put on them so if you can think of any you'll have to let them know. I can't think of a good one right now but when i do i'll let you know!

Day at the Islands!!!

2007-07-24T22:08:00.000-04:00

Today Brad and I took the kids on his parents boat with them over to Kelley's Island. Caiden loves going out on the boat. He asks all summer "when can we go out on grandma and grandpa's boat again". This was Hailey first time and she did pretty good. She didn't really like wearing the life jacket but other than that she loved watching the water and other boats.
When we got to the island we rented a golf cart and road around on it for about 3 1/2 hours, stoppping at parks and and the beach and just enjoying the nice weather. Both kids ended up falling asleep on the golf cart! (of course the only time they nap were out somewhere and we can't nap with them) We stopped and ate and got ice cream (double chocolate- it was so good) and just really relaxed.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Caiden had a blast at the beach but i couldn't help but feel uneasy all day being out on and by the water after hearing about little Hannah's horrible accident. Although i've never met her and have hardley ever read there blog I can't get her out of my head. I think about her nonstop and just pray that her family is doing okay. I couldn't even begin to image the pain they are going through. It really makes me realize how fragile life is and to cherish EVERY moment you have with your children because you never what what tomorrow will bring.

Just Needed To Vent!

2007-07-22T20:28:00.001-04:00

You know what bothers me more than anything? The image that some people have of stay at home moms. They think that because we don't work a 9-5 job and get paid for what we do that we just sit around all day, relaxing and being lazy.
Yes i will admit I do not work an 8 or even a 12 hour day, i am usually up by 8:30am and don't get the last child to bed until 10:3opm so right there is a 14 hour day, non stop, no breaktime no interacting with other adults just me and my children the whole day. This does not include if they wake up in the middle of the night or anything else. So on an average week i spend 95 hours working at my job, should i get paid? yes more than anyone i know, but thats not how it works, my pay comes from my children having a safe and happy childhood that they will remember for the rest of there lives and them knowing that there mother loves them more than anything and has willingly given up her life for theirs.
I don't ever put anyone down who goes out of there house and works, i know that they also are doing it to provide for there family. But to turn around and pass judgment on something you have no idea about just shows that i may be able to go out tomorrow and get a job like them but they could never do mine!

Kids!!!

2007-07-22T14:34:00.000-04:00

I think Hailey has hit the terrible two's (but in her case the terrible one's!) She is still my sweet little girl but now with a major attiutude!

She has started walking really good now so she never likes to be held. She can walk from one end of the room to another without stopping and when she falls down she stands herself right back up. So now she thinks she can do anything she wants, her new favorite is climbing the stair. She can get all the way to the top in about 10 seconds. We have a gate at the bottom but because of the way our stairs are it doesn't stay up too well and she has learned how to crawl up on it knock it down and climb up the stairs, she is such a monkey!

She has also started throwing tantrums! If she doesn't get what she wants she throws herself back, no matter where she is, thankfully i've always been there to catch her. Our biggest fight lately has been kepping her in her car seat. We buckle her in the right way and she starts by putting her arms through the straps, then her legs and then turns herself around and stands up. We have tried everything to keep her in there. I guess we'll have to think of something else. She is way to smart for her age! (i think i may have trouble with this one!)

Caiden has been acting a little different also. He has always been such a good big brother and still is but he has started acting jealous and has been acting out for attention. I think it may have to do with Hailey's first birthday and all the attention being on her but lately he takes her toys, holds her down when she is trying to walk or crawl and has been so emotional. He crys about everything. I think that Brad and I just need to spend more one on one time with him maybe let grandma watch Hailey more and do things with just caiden. Since she has been born we have done that only 3 times! Were going to try this and hopefully that will give him what he needs. We hate seeing him sad or feeling like something is wrong with him.

Well were off to the park (our daily visit) but here are some pictures of me and the kids yesterday playing

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I signed up for PPP!

2007-07-19T10:45:00.000-04:00

I have just recentley signed up and have been approved for PayPerPost. I am always looking for new things to post about and this is the perfect way to do it plus promote and let everyone know about new items and interesting facts. Also being a stay at home mom I could really use the extra money that this will bring into our houshold.
There are many choices when it comes to choosing what you want to write about so you can actually choose one that you have experienced or that you can really relate to. This is one of the things that I really like about PayPerPost, I feel that when I'm reading something that someone had written they are giving the real facts about it and not just doing it to get paid.
I heard about this though other blogs and from a couple of my friends who do this.
With the money that I get from doing this I plan on spending it online:-) There are so many cute things for my children that I've seen lately and now I will be able to get them with my own money!!!
I highly recommend for anyone to take advantage of such a fun and easy opportunity!
Just click on blog ethics to find out more on how you can become a part of PayPerPost.

Contest

2007-07-17T14:16:00.000-04:00

Andrea is having a contest giving away Skidpants by Dittany Baby

These are adorable baby legging that are longer than most other leggings. They come in two different fabrics, a cotton fabric that's thicker and a lightweight fabric that is better for warmer weather. They are one size fits all and can be worn from about 6 months to 2 years old.

All you have to do to enter is head over to Andrea's blog sign the Mr linky, post about the contest and the Dittany Baby site and let everyone know your favorite pair of skidpants. You must enter by this friday to win. Good luck.

See how cute these are...

I love this pick and white pair, it would match with so many of Hailey's outfits.

The other kind i would want would be the solid white. I know it's kinda plain but it would go with anything.

Tagged~ Meme

2007-07-16T22:53:00.000-04:00

I was tagged by Elizabeth to do a one word meme which basically mean everything about me.
So here it is...

1. Where is your cell phone? Kitchen.
2. Relationship? Happy.
3. Your hair? Dirty.
4. Work? Kids.
5. Your sister? Whichone.
6. Your favorite thing? Kids.
7. Your dream last night? dontremember.
8. Your favorite drink? Diet.
9. Your dream car? ?
10. The room you’re in?Office.
11. Your shoes? Barefoot.
12. Your fears? Dying.
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? Happy.
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? Family.
15. What are you not good at? Cooking.
16. Muffin? Blueberry.
17. One of your wish list items? Money.
18. Where you grew up? Ohio.
19. Last thing you did? T.V.
20. What are you wearing? Shorts.
21. What aren’t you wearing? Socks.
22. Your pet? None.
23. Your computer? Old.
24. Your life? Content.
25. Your mood? Relaxed.
26. Missing? Memory.
27. What are you thinking about right now? Sleep
28. Your car? Ecape.
29. Your kitchen? Dirty.
.30. Your summer? Warm.
31. Your favorite color? Green.
32. Last time you laughed? Today.
33. Last time you cried? Lastweek.
34. School? Out.
35. Love? Brad

Hailey's 1!!!

2007-07-15T19:25:00.000-04:00

Friday was Hailey's first birthday!!!

We can't believe that a whole year has already passed since she was born. It doesn't seem that long ago that i took this picture...

Look how tiny and precious she looked! Now if she's in that seat i can't get the snaps to fit around her!

We had a fun weekend, friday we took Hailey out to eat for her birthday, she got a banana pie dessert and ate almost the whole thing. Saturday we had her party out at my moms house. We had about 50 people show up. Andrea and her little boy Taite were able to come, they are visiting this weekend from NC, it was really nice to see her again. (Caleb was napping so he wasn't able to come). Sunday we went to Andrea and Travis' old church were Travis was the youth pastor, they had a huge celebration for i think there 50th anniversary. Ther was all kinds of things for the kids to do, jumpy things, rock climbing walls, cotton candy, sno-cones - Caiden loved it. Andrea let me wear Hailey in her Mei Tai (i think) It was SO nice. Hailey always needs to be held and it was nice to be able to hold her and still do what i needed to do, i'll have to get that picture from Andrea i forgot to get one with my camera.

Hailey's party went really good and she seemed to have a good time. Caiden helped her blow out her candle and then she dove into her cake. We got her her own individual little cake and let her do what she wanted with it, by the time she was done she had more up her nose and in her eyes than in her mouth, but it was cute!

I made one slideshow for the whole weekend.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Meant For Each Other

2007-07-11T09:53:00.000-04:00

I took this quiz today to find out the name of my true love and I couldn't believe what it said...

Your True Love's Name Is

Bradley F.

What's Your True Love's Name?

My husbands name is Bradley D. It's not exactley the same but close enough. All i did was type in my name and that my that my true love should be a male and that is what it gave me. I thought that was pretty cool! We must be meant for each other!

Monday Memories

2007-07-10T00:09:00.000-04:00

Hailey's first steps!!!

She took her first steps friday! I was holding her up and she kept acting like she was trying to move her feet so i let her go and she took 2 steps, later I had Caiden sit in front of her and hold his hands out to her and she took 6 steps to him! She seems to take more steps when she is walking to Caiden. He gets a kick out of that.

She's still pretty wobbley but she'll just keep standing herself back up, she gets so excited that it makes it hard for her to keep going.

I can't believe my baby is already walking!!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy 4th of July

2007-07-05T11:36:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone had a good 4th of July. I know we did!

Caiden was on a float in the parade this year. He loved it, his favorite part was throwing the candy to everyone! He was on the float with all of his cousins (well actually my cousins but there closer to his age) Here is a picture of all of them, the two girls on both ends of the top row are my twin sisters.

The girls on the left end of the bottom row are twins too! They run in my family, there are 2 more sets of twins but they couldn't make it.

After the parade we all went back to my aunt house and went swimming and had a cookout. I think i'm still in a food coma from all the food there! Caiden wore himself out swimming and had to show EVERYONE there how he can dive now. He had fun.

This was Hailey's first time watching the fireworks and i couldn't believe how much she liked them. I remember Caidens first year we had to leave the area because he was so scared of them, but she was pointing to them and clapping and smiling, i caught her expression during the grand final...

Isn't that adorable. She was so good all day and even took a 2 hour nap (i couldn't believe it, i had to keep checking her to make sure she was okay)

I hope my children remember these childhood memories forever!

Monday Memories (that I don't want to remember)

2007-07-03T09:16:00.000-04:00

My monday memory is one that i don't want to remember forever. As a parent i know that my children will fall down and get hurt at some point in their life but i'm never ready when it happens, i don't think anyone really is.

We were playing around the house all day monday just relaxing, having fun, it was 2:00 in the afternoon and we still hadn't changed out of our p.j's. (i know pretty lazy)

Caiden has a power wheels escalade that we had in our kitchen. Hailey loves playing in it, I told my husband just the night before that i didn't want her in it, i was afraid she would fall but what do i do, i let her play in it. She was having so much fun, pretending to drive, dancing to the music and then the side door popped open and she fell out strait on her forehead.

It was one of those times where everything happens in slow motion, you try to get there as fast as you can but just miss. I picked her up and she was screaming so bad within the first 2 minutes she vomitted twice. I was freaking out, i called the doctor and asked what to do and they told me to bring her in right away (vomitting after a head injury can be a concussion)

Thankfully she was okay, the doctor said she looked alright just to watch her very closely for the next 24 hours and to wake her every 2 hours a nap time and throughout the night (if only he knew my child does not nap or sleep well at night anyways)

Today she is so much better, playing like her normal self, I know that accidents happen but i still fell horrible for being right there and not being able to stop this.

It really doesn't look as bad as it sounds, the swelling has went down already.

Slowing Down For A Change

2007-06-29T16:11:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was one of those days that i slowed down alittle in life and just went at my childrens speed. If you have never done this you should try it sometime. You'll find that your day will be much more relaxing and fun!

We went to 3 different parks! Everytime i asked Caiden what he wanted to do he said "go to the park" we started at the rec center, then to a little one down by where we used to live and ended up by coming home cooking food and taking it to last park to have a picinic. Once we were fininshed eating the ice cream truck came by and we all got ice cream. I haven't seen ice cream trucks since i was little. The kids had so much fun and were exhausted by the time bedtime came around (and filthy not just dirty...filthy!!!)

Caiden has become my little monkey, he can climb up anything and isn't afraid of anything!

Here's Hailey still holding onto her popcicle stick, i think she thought if she sucked on it hard enough more would come out of it. She has just started standing herself up on her own.

We played in the dirt at one of the ball parks, they had a blast (what kid doesn't love dirt) and i have to admit i was sitting down there playing in it with them. Me and Caiden were playing imaginary baseball, somehow he kept getting homeruns and i kept striking out. I think he was cheating:-)

Don't they look adorable even covered with dirt?!! Okay i have to leave you with this...

*Mom, I swear i wasn't eating the dirt!!!*

Monday Memories

2007-06-27T09:09:00.001-04:00

We took the kids over to my aunts house this evening to go swimming. The heat has been unbearable!!! It's been around 90-95 degrees but with no breeze or anything, just really humid. So we do whatever we can to get out of our unairconditioned house.
I love taking the kids here to swim because usually it's just us there so we don't have to worry about watching our children with 50 other kids around. I take the kids to the rec center pool here in town and it's no big deal i can handle both of them but it gets tough at times trying to make sure Hailey isn't putting her face in the water and making sure caiden isn't running out the kiddy pool gate or jumping on other kids heads (he had a tendancy to be kinda rough when he plays, i blame brad for that)
While we were there this evening we taught caiden how to dive. He loves jumping off the diving board and can kinda swim now (which is scary because he's fearless) He caught on so quick. By his 3rd try he was diving in better than me!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Although his second dive needs alittle work:-)

I have a feeling that Hailey will be walking by her first birthday, which is here in like 2 1/2 weeks. She walks along the furniture and really anything else pretty fast now. She lets go and will stand on her own for about 10 seconds, but now with this toy she is realizing that she can really move. I guess i need to get more gates up in my house now. Brad has suggested the kind that they use on the cartoon rugrats:-) She gets away from us too fast!!!

Well the kids are getting restless, unless i stay up late at night i don't have alot of time anymore to get on here and do anything (incase you haven't noticed my blog entries getting further apart:)

Fireworks

2007-06-23T23:12:00.000-04:00

Every year this weekend our town has it's annual community days festival. It's not much but the kids love it! They have a whole kid zone set up for them where they have big jumpy things, obstacle courses , face paintings and more.

We took the kids there this weekend and of course i forgot to charge the battery for my camera so i don't have any pictures to show of it, but it was fun! It went on friday and saturday and then saturday night at 10:00pm they had the fireworks. We always have them this weekend instead of July 4th (which is kinda nice cause then we get to take the kids somewhere else on the 4th to see them, they like that they get to watch them twice)

We had all planned on going to them but at about 9:20 Hailey fell asleep and was out! So Brad stayed home with her and i took Caiden by myself. He did some sparklers before the fireworks started. I have different setting on my camera and one of them is for fireworks so the pictures turned out so cool...

This one is caiden swinging his sparkler around and around.

This was the finale. Caiden's favorite part!!!

Brad called me right after they were over and told me that they scared the crap out of Hailey. We live right down the block from where these were set off and she woke up SCREAMING!! Poor thing, she had no idea what was going on, but we got her settled down and she's back to sleep now.

HairClip/Boob-aholic

2007-06-22T08:54:00.000-04:00

I recieved Hailey's new hairclip that i won from Elizabeths contest last week from Lil' SugarPlum. It's so cute! It came wrapped in a little pink box with a bow on top!

It's fits perfect in Hailey's hair. Now hopefully I won't still have people asking me how old my little boy is:-)

Well Hailey is now 11 months old and I have started trying to wean her from brestfeeding...yeah not working. I never had this problem with my first, i nursed him for 4 months and he actually preferred the bottle. But with Hailey being almost one i don't want to start her on a bottle. She is VERY attached to me and to nursing, it's going to be almost impossible to get her away from the before bed feeding and the middle of the night feeding. The only thing that i've started trying is taking away the least important feeding, like one in the middle of the day.

If anyone has any good tips or advice let me know!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2007-06-22T08:51:00.000-04:00

PLAYING IN THE PUDDLES!!!

Catching up/Monday Memories

2007-06-19T10:54:00.001-04:00

Well it's been almost a week since I last wrote on here so i guess i have alot of catching up to do!

I'll start by telling every dad out there Happy Fathers Day! I know it's a little late but it still counts.

I also wanted to say thanks to elizabeth for having such a cute contest last week for a chance to win a hairclip...I won, i'll let everyone know what kind I got when i recieve it and i'll post pictures of it in Haileys hair! I can't wait!!

Here is my Monday Memories

Today was SOOO hot. It got to be 96 degrees and there was no wind. We spent most of the day at the pool at the rec center here in town. I got a membership for me and the kids this summer to give us something to do while Brad is at work all day, and we still don't have an air conditioner in our house (i broke ours last summer, i didn't know how heavy they were and tried to take it out of the window myself and it fell out the window onto the ground) so is theres anywhere we can go thats air conditioned or with a pool, we're there!

Caiden has gotten so much better in the water, he can't swim yet above water but he can kinda swim under the water. He doesn't even have to plug his nose.

Hailey loves the water too. She sits in the pool with me and crawls around and plays the whole time. We got the cutest float for her...

I couldn't get Caiden to stand still long enough for me to get a good picture of him but you can tell how much fun he's having!

He was finally brave enough this year to jump off the diving board. It took him a couple trys to get the courage to jump but once he did he loved it and wanted to do it again!

Later that night while Brad cooked out on the grill Caiden, Hailey and I went looking to lighting bugs to smush, oops i mean catch (caidens way of catching them is to clap his hands together, and then he wonders why they don't light up anymore:)

Caiden looks so skinny here jumping to catch the lighting bugs. We really do feed him!

Lil' SugarPlum Contest!

2007-06-13T17:48:00.000-04:00

Elizabeth is having the cutest contest! It's to win a Lil' SugarPlum hair clip for your little girl. They are no slip hairclips and you can get them for infants, toddlers or girls.

All you have to do to enter is head over to Elizabeth's blog to sign up, and you also have to pick your 3 favorite hair clips from Lil' SugarPlum, which doesn't sound that hard to do but once you see all they have it will be hard to choose just 3.

I think I have mine narrowed down though...

The Lil' ButterFly Hairclip

The Lil' Star Babies Hairclip

The Periwinkles Hairclip.

Aren't these all so adorable?!! Whether i win or not I may just have to head on over to Lil' SugarPlum and order some of these. They would look so cute in all the hair that has jsut started coming in on Hailey head:)

Wordless Wednesday

2007-06-13T08:49:00.000-04:00

This is what happens when we leave the fridge open...late night snack!!!

Enjoying The Weather

2007-06-12T01:40:00.000-04:00

We went over to my grandparents for a cookout and to let all the kids play together in the nice weather. It has been perfect here the last couple days, around 80 degrees, not too hot like it was all last week.
Caiden has so much fun playing with his cousins. They went fishing, swimming jumped on the trampoline (which i am not a big fan of those things, too many injuries) but the kids love them.
I got alot of good pictures of Caiden just being himself and having fun!

We all thought Caiden might have a heart attack when he caught this fish! He was jumping up and down throwing his arms up just yelling to everyine that he caught a fish. He is so funny!

He was jumping all around in the pool trying to splash me and my camera, he got me a couple times!

Hailey, who NEVER naps, took a 2 1/2 hour nap so she missed out on all the fun. But i did get one good picture of her with her aunt Holly. Holly is my older sister who lives a couple hours away so whenever she comes home for the weekend we always try to make it over there to see her. In march we went and stayed the weekend with her and her husband Sean and ever since then Caiden asks at least once a week when we are going to stay with them again. He loves seeing them (and there dogs!!!)

Trip to the Zoo

2007-06-11T16:59:00.000-04:00

We took the kids to the zoo for the first time this year. Caiden has always loved going and Hailey seemed to do pretty good too. It was kinda crowded that day, of course we had to go on the same day as all the schools and very hot around 90 degrees.
We stayed there most of the day and let the kids see everything. All the animals were very active which Caiden loved. Usually when we go all they do is lay there. Caiden had alot of favorites, the rhino, the seals, the giraffe and i think a couple more but i'll just stop there. Hailey seemed very amazed by everything and almost emotionless, she just starred!

I finally figured out how to put my slide show together (thanks drea!) so here it is...

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

MamaKanga Contest!

2007-06-10T09:21:00.000-04:00

Steph over at adventures in babywearing is having another contest, this time giving away a $75.00 gift certificate from MamaKanga. For anyone who doesn't know MamaKanga specializes in the comfort and beauty of babywearing.

I've always wanted to get a really cute sling but they are so expensive, with this gift certificate you could get almost anything. I've heard so many good things about so many different types of slings, that it was hard for me to pick just one.

I decided on the Catbird Baby Bijoux Mei Tai. I've heard that these are the best, the most comfortable for the baby and the mom and I love this design. It's very expensive though-$98.00, so with the gift certificate i would only spend 23.00.

I also love the brown/pink babylegs. I think they are adorable and would look so cute on Hailey.

So get over there and sign up for this chance to win a really great contest. You must sign up by friday morning. Good Luck!!!

Tee-ball/Growing up

2007-06-07T02:43:00.000-04:00

We are definately staying busy around here this summer. We have storytime, caiden's tee-ball, i play on 2 softball teams and we might be putting caiden in gymnastics again. It makes our weeks go by so fast but it's fun to be out and doing something other than just going to the park everyday.

Tonight was caidens first tee-ball game. The first week they have the kids play kickball just to get them used to running the bases (i really cant believe how many children have absolutely no idea how to play kickball or run bases. Are parents really not going out and playing and teaching there children these things anymore?) Caiden had fun but was a little upset because he really wanted to play baseball instead of kickball. He is so good at hitting. We go out in the yard alot and play with him, he actually does better when we pitch to him than hitting off a tee.

He was so funny, the first time the ball came to him, he tried to kick it so hard he missed!

But he got it the next time :-)

After his game we went strait to my game. We won. So far we haven't lost any. I play either short stop or second base. It's fun playing, i get to get out and be with all women my age and have normal adult conversations for a whole hour. I love every minute i spend with my children but sometimes i need a break, and this is my way to get one but to still have my kids right there with me. (by the way i hit a home run tonight!)

On another note... I have started planning for Hailey 1st birthday! I can't believe that it is already next month. She is growing up way too fast. It's kinda sad to think that i will never go through this baby stage again. Brad and I are almost positive that we do not want anymore children, i know that we are still young but we feel that we can do more and better provide for our two children. Caiden has already decided for us that Hailey is having a princess birthday party! Isn't that cute, he wants to help with everything! Well i'm off to bed Hailey has finally fallin back to sleep so now i can too!

Look at how old Hailey looks in this picture! We bought this chair for Caiden on his first birthday and now Hailey is already big enough for it!!

She learned to play patty-cake!

Wordless Wednesday

2007-06-07T02:39:00.000-04:00

CAIDEN LOVES HIS SISSY!

Photo Contest For 10,000!!!

2007-06-06T12:22:00.000-04:00

I recieved an e-mail earlier this week about an international open amateur photo contest. The grand prize winner will recieve 10,000!!!

All you have to do is take an original photo of anything but it cannot be offensive, artificially enhanced or a studio image or it will be disqualified. To enter this contest just click here.

I wanted to let everyone know about this because I know some of you have your own photography buisnesses and some of you just take really good pictures! This is a great chance to gain international exposure. Good luck to everyone who enters!

Still Up!!!

2007-06-04T15:59:00.000-04:00

It is almost 1:00am and i'm still waiting for Hailey to fall back asleep. I have taken everyones advice and have (kinda) started letting her cry when she wakes up in the middle of the night.Much to my surprise, she has done pretty good. I decided I won't let her go past 20 minutes and so far I haven't had to worry about that. The first night she cried about 5 minutes, the second night about 2 minutes and then she slept all through the third night...and then she got sick, so here we are now starting all over!She doesn't really cry bad, she more whines. She stands up and sits down over and over for about 20 minutes and then falls asleep sitting up. After she's been asleep for awhile, i go in and lay her down. The whole thing takes about 1 hour. Not at all what i was imaging!Me and her both need a FULL night of uninterrupted sleep! She is already growing up so fast so I know that day will come before long. I guess until then I have some extra time to blog at night:-)
*I just went in to check on her and this is how I found her...

so I layed her down and i am off to bed, hopefully she stays asleep!

SHOES!!!

2007-06-03T11:32:00.000-04:00

Steph over at adventures in babywearing is having an awsome contest giving away a $50.00 gift certificate for vincent shoes. All you need to do is get over to steph's blog, sign Mr. linky and then let everyone else know about these shoes and what your favorite styles are. I saw so many cute ones it was hard to choose, but a couple of my favorites were..

The Lilly Shoes!

Lilly sparkles her way into your closet!

Sequins and embroidery abound on this dressy Mary Jane. It is an all leather shoe with rubber soles

*Little divas who love glitter adore Lilly!*

and i know this is all about shoes but this Lilly purse (sold seperatley) is just adorable. I can just image my little girl playing dress up with these shoes and purse!

I also found a style for my son that I know he would be so comfortable in. There the Vidar sandals

Vidar is a classic open-toe sandal.

-All-leather upper and inner
-Distinctive “V” symbol on top
-Fun, bug-like pattern on the sole

So what are you waiting for? Get over there and sign up for this contest! You have until Thursday June 7th at 9:00am. GOOD LUCK!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2007-05-30T15:54:00.001-04:00

*THEY MAKE ME LAUGH LIKE NOBODY ELSE CAN, MAKE ME SMILE FIRST THING IN THE MORNING AND THE LAST THING AT NIGHT, MAKE MY EYES SHINE WITH TEARS OF PRIDE, JUST TO BE THEIR MOM*

Getting Some Hair :-)/Sleepover!

2007-05-28T00:02:00.000-04:00

For the first 8 months Hailey has been practically bald, but these last 3 months her hair has grown so much. I've always wanted a little girl so I could dress her in pretty dresses and do her hair, well it's not much but it's finally long enough that i could put it in a little ponytail (and believe me, she wasn't too pleased!) Even though it's sticking strait up, I think it's adorable!

And look at those chub rolls! I love them!!! She's such a good and happy baby.

Caiden had his very first sleepover saturday night!

Before i had Hailey i worked at olive garden as a full time waitress, one of my close friends through there Karla, has a little boy Caiden's age, Jude. They are both 4 years old and have been friends for about 2 years now. We used to meet once a week at the mall or at a resturant and let the boys play and run wild together. The boys haven't got to spend much time together lately, Karla just had a little girl 9 days ago so it's been hard for her to get out. ( i think we can all relate to that)

I decided to give her a break for the evening and have Jude stay at our house. The boys were so good. They played all night and all the next day without fighting at all, inspite of how tired and exausted they were. They didn't end up going to bed until 12:30 and woke up the next morning at 8:00.

We ordered pizza, made cookies, played outside and did all the fun things little boys do. Here is a picture of the boys

Isn't Jude huge! Him and Caiden are only 5 months apart. He looks like he is 6 years old. I couldn't believe it the first time i saw him. Caiden isn't small for his age, he's pretty average. Jude is the sweetest boy, very well mannered and behaved. We'll have to let Caiden do this more often.

*note to anyone who hasn't went through sleepovers yet- be prepared for a very cranky, whinny child the next evening. Caiden was so tired he would just start crying for no reason. The upside- early bedtime that night!

(Kind Of) Wordless Wednesday

2007-05-23T16:13:00.000-04:00

This was how Hailey looked after she woke up from her nap. It is 95 degrees out today and we don't have our air conditioner hooked up yet! So her hair was sticking strait up from sweating. I guess we need to get that put in this weekend!

She was being so sweet after her nap, just laying on me!

Last Day Of Preschool

2007-05-23T15:48:00.001-04:00

I can't believe a whole year has already went by since I dropped my little boy off for his first day at school. I remember how unsure i was about sending him so early and how i hoped he did good and played well with the other childern. And here we are now at the end of the school year. He has grown and learned so much in such a short period of time and has made so many new friends.

To celebrate the last day they had a Family fun festival at his school. There were games and face paintings and lots of things for the kids to do together with their friends and family. When it was all over Caiden said goodbye to his friends, hugged his teachers and ran outside to enjoy his summer.

Monday Memories

2007-05-21T23:00:00.000-04:00

The kids woke up bright and early this morning (about 7:30) i know that probably doesn't sound too early but when I NEVER get to sleep through the night anymore, everything is early to me. Other than being tired morning is my favorite time to spend with my kids. They are so loving and cuddly in the morning. We usually lay around on the couch together for a good hour before we really get started with our day.
Today Caiden wanted a bannana and since he had one Haily wanted one too. It was so cute how they sat there beside each other on the couch watching cartoon and eating.

She has to hold it herself or she throws a fit, but she does pretty good for only being 10 months old.

Later in the afternoon Brad and I took the kids on a walk to the park down the road. I finally got out our wagon and we took them in that. I wasn't real sure how Hailey would do in it, she doesn't sit still for too long so we were afraid she would try and climb out but she didn't. She sat in there with Caiden the whole time. Caiden did so good playing with her. He is such a good big brother, always looking after her.

This is really weird but on the way home from the park we saw a squirrel and from far away we couldn't tell what was in it's mouth and then once we got closer we saw it...

This squirrel had a whole cookie in it's hands and was eating it. It let us get really close to it too. It wasn't giving up that cookie.

On another weird note...

Caiden the last couple days has been wearing his halloween costumes everywhere. Last night he insisted on wearing the thing (from fanastic four) to the grocery store. You know the saying "pick your battles" when your children reach this age that saying really comes in handy. We could have either had him get upset or just let him wear the costume and it's not like he's hurting anyone, he's just being a little boy. Although we did get some very weird looks. So this evening he rode around the block as spiderman.

After our long day Caiden was in bed by 9:00 and Hailey by 9:30 which is really good for her. She has already woke up once and it's now 10:30 so i probably have another hour before she wakes up again.

My night are so fun! Thank god for coffee!!!

*Well i was wrong Hailey woke up before I could even get this posted!*

Palooza Kids!!!

2007-05-20T14:33:00.000-04:00

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Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com" border="0" alt="" />/a>

I had mine on here but the kids looked better so now it's just them.

Hailey was sitting on my lap while I was doing this and this may have been the first time that she has EVER sat still for me. She was so amazed with it. So i had to make one for her too!

Caiden loved helping me make his. He picked out everything all on his own!

Contest!!!

2007-05-18T14:47:00.000-04:00

Stephanie from adventures in babywearing is having a contest. All you have to do is fill in the link on her site and advertise her contest on your site and you could be the lucky winner of some really cool baby produsts from Mason & Matisse.

The winner will recieve

- Skip Hop Pronto in Black or Red

- Skip Hop Toolbox Diaper Caddy in White with Mint Accents

- Skip Hop Splash in White

- Skip Hop Chow in White

The contest ends next Friday morning. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this one!!!

****GOOD LUCK!****

A Different Kind Of Quiz

2007-05-17T01:09:00.000-04:00

Over at summer's site she is tagging every mommy who read her quiz so i guess that would mean me.

WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED- no it wasn't but it's one of the best things I have done in my life.
WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME- no
WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS- i was scared to death. I found out 1 month before i graduated high school.
WAS AN ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU- even though i was young that thought never even entered my mind.
HOW OLD WERE YOU- 18
HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT- i was late starting so i took a test.
WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST- my boyfriend.
DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX- yes
DUE DATE- December 24 2002
DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS- no
WHAT DID YOU CRAVE- oranges and swiss cheese.
WHO/WHAT IRRATATED YOU THE MOST- i don't really remember being irratated too much.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILDS SEX- male
DID YOU WISH YOU WOULD'VE HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX- never
HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT YOUR PREGNANCY- 60-65!
DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER- yes my mom and sisters threw one for me, it was huge!
WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW- i knew about it.
DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY- i had alot of back pain and i worked two jobs so most nights i could hardley feel my feet.
WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH- fisher titus medical center.
HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR- 11 hours.
WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL- my boyfriend.
WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH- my boyfriend and mom were in the delivery room with me.
WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION- natural
DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN- yes ihad an epideral, but they didn't give it to me until i had already been in labor for almost 9 hours.
HOW MUCH DID YOUR BABY WEIGH- 7 lbs 13 oz
WHEN WAS YOUR BABY ACTUALLY BORN- january 1 2003
WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER- caiden anthony
HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY- he is 4 1/2. He's growing up way too fast!

Now i tag any moms who read this. Leave me a message if you are going to do this so i can read what you have to say!

Wordless Wednesday

2007-05-16T22:26:00.000-04:00

A Beautiful Mothers Day Weekend!

2007-05-14T14:08:00.000-04:00

We had a busy weekend. We celebrated mothers day on saturday (sunday is always too busy with us trying to see our moms) Brad and the kids took me shopping out of town to buy me some new summer outfits- a perfect gift for me, since having children I tend to go without, which i'm sure every mother can relate! So the only time i get new clothes is when someone gives me a giftcard or buys them for me. When we got to the mall, Brad took the kids to the play area and let me shop on my own. When i was finished i called his phone so he could come pay:)

It was very relaxing not having to try on my clothes with a stroller in the fitting room and a little boy trying to climb under the door!

At the mall they had these cool tramopline things that caiden jumped on, he loved it

Then they took me out to my favorite resturant- Carrabbas. The food there is so good.

he next day we went to church with my mom (it really means alot to her to have her daughters there in church with her) and then out to my grandmas and finally to Brad's moms.

Of course i forgot my camera at home the whole day so i have no cute mothers day pics to share.

i had a very good Mothers Day thanks to my husband, who is always doing his best to make me happy and feel so loved on special days (and regular days too) and to my children who i wouldn't be celebrating Mothers day if it weren't for them. My husband and children are the joy in my life and and I hope they know how much I love them!

2007-05-13T19:42:00.000-04:00

*God could not be everywhere and

therefore he made mothers*

*****Happy Mothers Day!!*****

Messy Girl & Tired Boy

2007-05-10T12:53:00.000-04:00

Hailey has really found her personality and determination these last 2 months. When she gets her mind set on something, nothing will stand in her way.

Today she decided to set her mind on feeding herself! It didn't go too well.

As you can see she got more food in her lap than in her mouth.

I tried to help her use a spoon but she thought her fingers worked better!

So we went strait from her high chair to the tub!

Hopefully she waits awhile until she wants to try this again!

Meanwhile while she's making a mess her big brother is sick again:( We all just keep passing this back to each other. Caiden hasn't napped in over a year so when he falls asleep like this. i know he's sick.

This happens every year when the weather changes and hoefully it will be gone by morning. I hate when the kids get sick cause I want to make them better but theres only so much i can do.

PEEK-A-BOO

2007-05-09T16:30:00.000-04:00

A childhood game that never gets old!

Did you notice all those teeth! She has 5 now!!!

Monday Memories

2007-05-09T09:58:00.000-04:00

Today was such a beautiful day. The weather was perfect, it got to be about 78 degrees. I love this time of year, its not too hot and its not too cold.

Brad and i took the kids today to play at a park down by the water. It's only about 25 minutes from our house. Theres a pier that we can walk out on, boat docks, birds (for caiden to chase) and one of the best parts, cedar point in the background.

Caiden loves cedar point. If you have never taken your children here this is one place you do not want to miss out on. To find out more information on cedar point click here

Caiden and Hailey both love doing anything outdoors so when the weather is nice we take advantage of it. We played at the park for about an hour, walked all around the boat docks, let caiden throw about a millin rocks in the water and then Brad and Caiden decided they wanted to scare the geese. We found out that they actually hiss and will chase you back!

I got some really good pictures and on the one with me and both kids you can see cedar point inthe background.

Tagged!

2007-05-05T19:35:00.000-04:00

I've been tagged! so now you get learn 7 random facts about me!

I have 1 brother and 5 sisters! yes, i know too many hormones for one household
I eat more junk food than i do real food- bad habit to get into.
I always lie about my weight on my drivers license- who doesn't???
I cannot stand the sound of someone rubbing their hands across a balloon.
I can pick things up off the floor with my toes- there pretty long & it comes in handy!
I LOVE garage sales
I haven't seen a movie at the theaters that wasn't rated PG in almost 2 years- yes, me and my husband are in desperate need of a date night:)

Well there's my list! now it's my turn to tag 7 people.

Kerry, Ali, Dana, Andrea, Erin, Sarah
and you! whoever the 7th person reading this is!

Just just tell us 7 random facts about you and then choose 7 people you know to hear their facts. Leave me a comment and let me know if you participate in this so i can read yours!

HAVE FUN!!!

SLEEPING PROBLEMS

2007-05-05T08:22:00.000-04:00

Back on April 19th i said that both of my children are "finally sleeping" well (and I'm not kidding when i say this) since that night Hailey has not slept at all!

I really do not know what to do. She has been waking up 4-5 times a night. I know that she can sleep through the night, she did it for that whole week before i posted it, but for some reason she won't. Here is her nightly routine. Cereal at about 8:30-9:00, i put her down in her crib usually around 9:30 or 10:00. She sleeps in there until about midnight and then wakes up to eat, i feed her lay her back down and she wakes up in another hour to eat again! I know that she can't still be hungry but she will absolutely SCREAM until i feed her again and she will keep doing this every hour or so until i put her in bed with me. She is not sick, is not teething right now so i don't know what is keeping her up.

I talked to her doctor about this, i can only handle so many nights of not getting good sleep and this has been going on for about 3 weeks, and the only advice he gave me was to let her cry herself back to sleep. I know that alot of people do this and the children are alright but i just don't think that it is something i agree with doing. I read once that by using that method your child is just giving up hope that you will be there for them so that's why they lay themselves back down. Maybe that true ans maybe that's not but that will always be stuck in my head.

I need my sleep again! If anyone could give me any advice to try and help please do. Hailey is almost 10 months old and should really be sleeping through the night. Plus her 4 year old brother wakes up bright and early at 7:30-8:00 ready to play and i don't think its fair to him to be so tired and out it every morning (or at least until I've had my coffee:)

Another thing i wanted to mention, Hailey only naps about 45 minutes to an hour a day. She WILL NOT nap any longer. She has done this since she was about 4 months old. So if anyone has a schedule that you use to help your children, I'd love to hear it.

Mom & Me Day

2007-05-02T19:01:00.000-04:00

Today at Caiden's school was mom and me day. It was a day for all of the moms to come in and check out the classroom and everything that the kids do at school.

Caiden was so excited to have me there. He couldn't show me everything fast enough! He showed me his art room, snack room, chapel (He goes to a christian preschool) and the playground.

He has made so many friends at school. That's why i worry so much about what the world is coming to when it comes to school shootings and everything else that is going on nowadays. Although i miss him when he's gone, i think that he really needs this time to interact with children his own age and to hear authority from someone other than his parents. School has really helped his listening and learning here at home. i will have no problem home schooling my children if that's what i feel is necessary but i don't want him to miss out on the friendships that can be made through school.

This is one of his friends, cody and cody's sister paige. Caiden calls him code-man!

He seems to really like school and has already learned so much. He can write his first and last name, knows how to count to 30 and can say his ABC's. It's almost hard to believe that he is already just about finished with his first year. Time flys by so fast!

Bath Time!

2007-05-01T09:01:00.000-04:00

This morning for breakfast caiden wanted pancakes so i made one for him and for Hailey. She's never had them before so i thought i'd give it a try. She loved them! at first i was feeding her but she kept wanting to feed herself so i just cut them up really tiny , put them on her tray and let her go crazy. By the end of breakfast she had more pancakes (and syrup) in her hair than in her mouth. So, strait to the bath.

Both my kids love taking baths. I have always tried to make it fun for them. They have toys, bubbles, bath paint, water colors and anything else you could think of. I get my bath toys at a website called The bath factory http://thebathfactory.com they have everything for kids (and adults.) All of their products are very mild and safe for all ages.

Caiden loves these! He colors all over

the walls and himself!

This is the bath confettie. You put it in the water and watch as the colors slowly dissolve and spread out into bubbles!