Oh the weather outside...

Is a little too warm for this time of year! Not that I'm complaining, it just feels a little weird chopping down your Christmas tree in sunny 65 degree weather. I guess it's better than having to lie down in a big ole' pile of snow and ice! It was kind of a spur of the moment decision to get our tree today, Matt is super sick and we thought it would be better to go today than have to deal with crowds tomorrow. Plus, it's right up the road from our house, so it was really easy to get there and back in between Ari's naps.











It is the absolute most perfect tree I have ever had! It's a Leyland Cypress which means there are no needles to poke the crap out of your (er, my) arms while decorating! It smells so yummy, just like Christmas should smell. We're going to decorate it tomorrow, light a fire in the fireplace, drink hot chocolate and listen to holiday music. It's a new tradition I want to pass down to Ari and Matt and I are both pretty excited about it.

I think Ari's getting bored with his "baby" toys, we are in serious need of some upgrades. I took him to Target with me today and let him pick out something new. He picked the Fisher Price Little People dump truck. It's so cute, the little man driving twists back and forth when you push it. Ari just likes to take the "dirt" out of the back and put in back in over and over. We are going to get him more of them for Christmas, he's just having so much fun with it. The poor child hasn't gotten any new toys in months and now that he's practically walking he is completely uninterested in anything he has.

I'm going to hit the scrap table tonight, I've not been able to complete a layout since before Thanksgiving and I really need to. My December Crop Addict kit will be here next week and I haven't even used the November one yet. Oops. Enjoy your Friday night, I'll be back with more photos tomorrow!

Kisses from Ari

You should pause my music player before you watch. Just scroll down and click on the pause button twice! Then come back up and watch Ari send you some kisses!!

Tissues, NyQuil and Cough Drops... Oh My!

I think I'm finally starting to get over this cold. I'm still stuffy and coughing but it's definately not as bad today as it has been! Unfortunately Matt is sick now though, so it's not all the way out of the house yet. We've both been taking medicine around the clock, drinking tons of fluids and I bought an entire box of clementines to pump up our vitamin C intake! Despite our ickyness we were able to hang the curtains I bought yesterday in our front room. The front room is very multi-purpose for us; it's where Ari plays, I scrap, Matt computes and we all watch TV. Needless to say we spend a LOT of time in here and it's just now starting to feel like home!



After the curtains were up I sat down at my very messy scrap table and made my advent calendar. I found it at Target, it's a kit from Making Memories. It came with the plain red box, pre cut patterened papers, buttons, holly leaves, poinsettias and rub-ons. I love how it turned out, I still have a little bit of sanding and inking to do but other than that it's done, and it only took about an hour!!



I've never had an advent calendar but I love the idea of chocolates every day!! Speaking of chocolates, I bought Matt a box yesterday to thank him for everything he's been doing around here this past week. He jumped right in and took care of Ari, the house and me while I was sick. I literally did nothing for two days and it was fabulous! He was pretty excited about the chocolates, half the box is gone already! Guess it's my turn to take care of him now... maybe I will get some candy too!

We are going to be lazy tonight, much like the rest of our week. It's Thursday which means CSI and ER for me. Matt got a new computer game at Target the other day so I'm sure he'll be glued to the screen for the rest of the night. I have some scrapping to do tomorrow, not to mention cleaning this house. Brian (the brother) gets here Monday and I don't want to have to clean while he's here!!

'Tis the season

Yesterday I dug through the boxes in the garage for my holiday decorations. I've only found half of them, I really hope the other half turn up. Of course, the missing boxes have all the good stuff in them, my favorite ornaments, the tree skirt, stockings and ribbon. Anyway, here's what I've done so far...





Sorry if the photos are blurry, my head is still a little blurry too! Matt is coming down with this cold now too, which sucks because he goes back to work tomorrow! It's a short trip though, his two week vacations starts Saturday at 5pm!!! I can't wait, we have so much work to do around here. I picked up some curtains today for our front room, I wanted to hang them tonight but it's already 10:45 so we will most likely wait until the morning.

I'm going to brew a large cup of tea, eat some chocolate and go to bed! Doesn't get much better than that...

My Voice Is Gone...

This has to be the worst cold I've had in a few years! I had to sleep on the sofa last night because if I tried to lay flat in bed I couldn't breathe. I'm sure Matt was awake until I came downstairs from my sniffling and coughing [sorry about that]. We picked up some more medicine today at Target, hopefully I can double up on the NyQuil and actually get some sleep tonight.

In my fogginess yesterday I completely forgot to post the picture of my Label Tulip kit that came while I was in Louisville, so here you go!



As I said before, if you like what you see (hopefully you can see it, I think I forgot to photoshop it) you should head over lickety split. These babies sell out within minutes and they are offering the chance to preorder their December kit!

I love this photo of Dick and Ari, I had to sneak it in here. My little guy is definately a "Grandpa's Boy" and he's going through withdrawl today! He's been a little on the fussy side for most of the day. That might have something to do with the fact that our flight was delayed 4 hours. He was a trooper though, only cried once and slept the entire flight!



He had his first taste of Starbucks! I'm only kidding, the cup was totally empty. All he wanted was to take my cup while I was drinking so Sharon rinsed hers out and gave it to him. He had a great time chewing it up!



I am really going through scrap withdrawl. I got a really cool advent calendar to alter today, I have tons of ideas for it. I still need to finish my Thanksgiving mini album and Dick took like 400 photos this past week that will go perfect with my LT kit! Oh, and I still have my 2008 calendar to finish too (um, I've only done one month, shh..). Yikes, I better get off here and get moving...

A Blustery Day...

I feel icky. My throat is super sore, I took NyQuil last night and snoozed until 9:30 this morning. Matt's parents were super nice and took care of Ari this morning so I could catch a few more z's. Ari was super nice and slept all night, until 7 this morning. I think he may be feeling a little punk too, he took almost seven hours worth of naps today and was in bed by 7 tonight. Huh, that's a lot of 7's... anyway, Sharon thinks he's teething, Dick thinks he has "baby jet-lag" and I think he's coming down with something. Either way, he's super cranky and sleepy... maybe it's a combination of all three. We go home tomorrow so hopefully we will all be back to normal very soon!

I had tons of great photos to post from Turkey Day but somehow deleted every last one of them (there were 800). I have them on a disk, it's just going to take me FOREVER to get them back on the laptop.

My Label Tulip kit came here yesterday, I asked the lovely ladies there to send it to me here in Louisville so I could make sure it didn't sit on my porch all week. I can't wait to dig it, it's full of goodies!! If you like what you see you should head over there pretty quickly... the kits sell out super fast and they are taking pre-orders for December right now. I've been a member since September and have yet to be disappointed, their stuff is very eclectic and fun!

Sharon and I went to The Summit today, it's a shopping area very close to their house. I needed a few things from J.Crew and Sharon needed some candles for her holiday mantle display. We were in Pier 1 and I found the perfect ornament for Ari for Christmas this year. We plan on getting him an ornament every year then giving him the entire collection when he gets married (in 30 years...). I'm even going to take it a step further and make an album of all of them explaining why I picked that particular ornament. The story behind this years ornament is 1. That it's super cute 2. It has a cute silk keepsake box and 3. It's called "Li Bien" which in Chinese means "inside". The Li Bien ornament showcases the age old skill of inside painting. Each ornament is hand painted through a tiny opening in the mouth blown glass making them unique. I tried to take a picture, my camera wasn't doing a very good job so Dick took some pics and will send them to me via email first thing tomorrow. The ornament is dated with the year so we will always know which Christmas it was for!

I would have loved to have shopped more today, I found so many neat things but my suitcase is overflowing as it is! That, and it started raining while we were out and the shopping center is open-air. Brian and I are hitting the mall hard when he gets to my house next week, I will do some serious damage to the checking account then!

Last but not least, my RAK drawing!!! I pulled a name from Dick's hat earlier today and the lucky winner was Michelle Lloyd (aka. Michelle & Ella)!! Luckily she lives in my town so I don't have to mail anything, you can pick it up at my house this week!! I have lots of goodies, I will post a picture of the super fun prize pack when we get home.

I think I'm gonna go to bed, my throat is still pretty sore. The NyQuil is calling my name, tomorrow is going to be another long day, our flight leaves at 3:30 arriving in Charlotte at 5 and we have to wait for Matt to help us with all the baby travel gear. Then it's straight home for eternity... hehe ;) Well, home for two weeks until we go to Florida to visit my dad!

Whew, Too Many Turkeys...

I am exhausted! This has been one crazy week, I'm glad it's finally starting to wind down. Thanksgiving with Matt's parents was incredible!! So good, in fact, that I ate it twice! We had dinner fairly early with Andy and Landon (Matt's step brother and our nephew) so they could hit the road back to Indianapolis. Matt's other step brother, Adam, his wife Tenley and their son Camden came down later that day for a quick visit. I've never met either of the boys, it was so nice to have two days with Landon, he and Ari played together very well since they are only three months apart. He's a total cutie too, I think I took more photos of him than Ari!







Camden and Ari didn't play so well together, Camden was tired and he's five months older and used to playing with bigger babies. It got a little rough and I had to be a "smother" and hold Ari back. It's fine with me though, and it was nice to finally meet my nephew.

My brother happened to be driving right through on his way up to Ohio so he stopped for some dinner (thus my second meal) and ended up staying the night. He'd been driving for twelve hours and was beat. We got up early this morning and hit the road for Dayton. We had brunch with Kenny (my brothers best friend)and Ashley and their son Benjamin before heading to my grandma's.

That's where the fun began! Her house is her house, not exactly meant for babies so it was hard to keep Ari and her things safe. That combined with the eight or so older kids running around and it was a madhouse! Too loud for what Ari is used to which meant no nap and a very cranky little boy. We had to leave very shortly after eating so he could catch a nap in the car. He had a rough evening but is sound asleep in the pack-n-play. Brian is staying with me tonight, we ordered Donato's [YUM] and have devoured nearly the whole pizza in less than 15 minutes!! We're going to watch some tv and catch up on all the events that have passed since I last saw him, it's going to be just like old times!!

Good News, Good News!!!

It's official... the announcement has been made and I can now say... I MADE THE DESIGN TEAM over at Crop Addict! I found out a few days ago and it's been SUPER hard not to spill the beans. I am thrilled, I wanted this so badly. I tried not to think about it once I submitted my entry, I just can't wait to get started!! This is shaping up to be a pretty good week! Matt made it in this evening, he had to work today but he'll be here with us until EARLY Friday morning when he has to go back to work. We're just going to enjoy the time we have here with our family, I'm excited to finally meet my "nephews", Camden and Landon. They live in Indianapolis, I've not seen them yet since we aren't super close. Ari is going to have a blast playing with them and I made sure to buy a memory card for the camera so I can take plenty of pictures to scrap. I'm going to have LOTS of scrappy supplies now that I'm a real designer!! Here are a few photos from today. Sharon bought some new toys for the boys to play with, Ari got to "test" them out today, he wholeheartedly approved all of them! They passed the taste test too, of course!





I've been promoted to "mommy jungle gym" lately which is why these are cropped kinda funny. I had to hold the camera way out in order to get any shots of him. I like the wierd angle though, it's a little different than your typical shot! Tomorrow is a lazy day, we're going to hang out here and visit, Dick got half the day off and Andy (my step-brother in law) and Landon will be here around noon! I'm sure I will be on here at some point to add some photos, I want to stay up to date so I don't flood you all like I've done already! Have a great night! xoxoxo

We Made It!!!

Our flight went smooth as pie yesterday! We got to the airport around 4:30, Sharon's flight from Phoenix had just landed so she was able to meet us on the other side of security. We went straight to the gate, fed Ari some dinner and got on the plane! We ran in to some friends while we were waiting, it's always nice to see a familiar face. This is our first trip with the big boy carseat, it was a bear to lug through the airport but it worked nicely on the plane. Ari got buckled in, drank a bottle and slept almost the entire flight! It was a little tough getting him back to sleep once we got to the house but he did very well.

Sharon and I are going to run some errands today, pick up some baby supplies and last minute odds and ends for dinner Thursday. I'm going to update later today with some pictures, I'm just starving now and am going to have some breakfast!! Talk to you later!

Happy Sunday!

Today is one of those great days, so far! Ari slept in until 8 this morning, which is pleasantly happening more often. We headed out to Eddie's Place for brunch with Michelle & Ella, I had french toast [yum]! Ella ate pancakes, we tried to give Ari some, I wish I had the camera with me to catch his reaction. He scrunches his eyes shut, clamps his mouth closed and shakes his head back and forth so you have no chance of getting food anywhere near his mouth. As frustrating as it is he makes me laugh every time (don't worry, I laugh on the inside so he doesn't see).

After brunch we headed out to the mall to return/exchange some stuff. We got there pretty early, it was still busy but not total mayhem. I got Ari the cutest little brown loafers to wear this weekend. On our way out we cruised by Santa so the babies could see and I have to admit, it was one good lookin' Santa. Well, he looked good as Santa, not that he was cute or anything. His beard was real, long & white, and his face really was rosy! He even had a little belly... he gave us some pointers on how to take the babies up to him so we could get a photo without them screaming. We'll have to test it out a little closer to Christmas, it's way too early to be sitting on his lap now.

Ari fell asleep before we were even out of the parking lot, I even managed to get him up to his crib and back asleep once we got home, a monumental task that's almost never accomplished! I stopped at Starbucks on our way out too, gotta love the Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha, SO good!



This is the RAK I won from Kristy, it took a little while to get here all the way from Australia but so worth the wait! I can't wait to dive in... and since it's here it's time for a little RAK of my own! Leave a comment today and I will draw one random winner for a little goody box of my own! I will pick the random winner one week from today, how does that sound!!



Last but not least, the neat art clips I ordered from Land Of Nod. I'm going to hang them above the window in my scrap area. I thought they would come in handy to clip up the photos I'm about to scrap. It's a great way to jump start my inspiration!



Matt gets home in about 4 hours, he just has to go to Lexington, KY and back and he will be home for the night! We're headed out to Louiville tomorrow evening, I have PT in the morning before we go. If I don't update tomorrow I am taking the laptop with me so I can stay in touch while I'm gone. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

I know, I already posted today...

I'm just trying to catch up from being without a camera for however long it was (I tried not to think about it or I'd probably cry). Here are some of my latest creations:



This is a star ornament that I'm going to hang on the garage door in the foyer. It came in my Crop Addict November kit, I love it! It was a little tricky to get together without smushing it.



I did this one for the Scrapdragons challenge this month. We were given a list of things to pick from for inspiration! I chose the picture of the inside of the refridgerator (because it feels like home), the bling (glitter glue for a bit of sparkle), and handwritten journaling. I almost always do handwritten journaling, which is why I chose two others from the list!



This one pretty much explains itself!! Thanks Dick, this is the only photo we have from my labor with Ari! As you can see, this was before they broke my water, I was feeling pretty good still...



I love this photo of Ari. Even though he had to wear the brace he couldn't be more perefct!



This one's pretty easy to figure out too.

OK, that's all for now, be sure to scroll down and read the post from earlier today!

I like green!

I finally got the family room painted!! There's still one wall left, the really long one and I'm gonna need to move A LOT of furniture to get to it so we'll see...

What do you think? Here's the icky before:



And the nice, calming after:





It's hard to get the color right on here, the house faces south so the light in here is always pretty quirky. Usually I take stuff outside to photograph it but I really can't do that with the walls!! Ari's been such a good boy today which is surprising considering Matt left for work this morning. He's usually Mr. Cranky Bottom the day Matt leaves, it's been nice to have my calm, quiet little boy with me all day. Here's the two of us this morning in our jammies (um, we're still in our jammies... it's 4:19 pm...). Anyway, I'm going to put the rest of the room back together and clean up my scrap area. Did you notice how I conveniently cropped the photo so you couldn't see what a disaster it is over there!!



Enjoy the rest of your day, we sure are here!!!

Chilly Willy

It's super cold outside! A cold front rolled on in yesterday... it went from near 80 to 30 degrees in about 12 hours, ouch! Cold fronts are usually accompanied by lots of wind, which was great since I hadn't gotten a chance to rake the yard yet. All the leaves were blown into the neighbors yard (which is fine, they aren't very nice) and those that remained were quickly hauled away by two little kids and their wagon!

Some of you may know, the camera is finally here!! We waited yesterday until after 5 and finally decided to run out to the store for dinner supplies. On our way out of the neighborhood we passed the UPS truck. Of course, we did a U turn in the street and followed him back to the house. I am loving it!! First thing tomorrow I'm gonna put some pics on here, Matt's dying to get on here so I'm keeping this short.

I'm going to paint the family room tonight, or at least one or two walls. I'm hoping to have it done before we leave on Monday. Hope you all have a nice Friday night, talk to you in the morning!!

Some fun 'lil quizzes!!

I got these from Deanna's blog this morning. Who can resist??

You Are 79% Creative

You are beyond creative. You are a true artist - even if it's not in the conventional sense of the word.You love creating for its own sake, and you find yourself quite inspired at times.

How Creative Are You?

Your 80s Hunk Is

Jason Bateman

Who's" Your 80s Hunk?

OK, is it super pathetic that I don't even know who that is?? I'll just have to wait until Matt gets home to tell me who that is, he knows everything!

Your turn, if you do these, leave me a comment so I can come check out the answers!!! Have fun...

Not so nice night...

It seems to be the rule of the universe that if you have a good day you cannot have a good night. If you have a good night you cannot have a good day. That would be asking too much. Well, last night was horrible. I can't believe I even have enough energy to type this all out. Believe me, it will be short. Ari cried ALL night, I think the longest stretch he slept was about 4 hours, with several hours of crying in between. He's not slept that little, well, ever. He was born sleeping six or more hours at night, so I can't handle this waking stuff. Those who know me know how much I value my sleep. Without it I am cranky, mean, and generally unhappy. Today oughta be fun! We have Gymboree class at 3:30, I'm seriously considering dropping these classes. I thought this before my horrible night, it's not a result of that, it's just really hard to get there anymore. I hate that we are paying for something that we aren't using like we should. Since we moved, going to class eats up half the day and if Ari's off on his schedule at all it throws us all off kilter. We'll see how today goes...

Matt gets home today!! I'm counting down the hours. His flight lands while Ari and I are in class, he's going to meet us at PeiWei for an early dinner then it's home, home, home!! I may post again later today, I'm REALLY hoping that my camera gets here today... keep your crossables crossed for me and as Chris would say, "A visit from Brown Santa"!!

Oh, and I'm going to be doing a little construction around here, if things look a little funny for the next few days. I got some really cool instructions and ideas from Virginia that I'm going to try out here!! Happy Day!

A pretty nice day!

Mr. Bean (that's Ari, not the movie guy) slept in until 8 am today!! I was stoked since I stayed up way too late last night. I couldn't help it, I got sucked in by "John & Kate Plus 8". Watching that show makes me feel a little more sane in my daily routine, how could I not watch it?? Anyway, since he woke up late, the nap got pushed back and we almost were late to my PT appointment, which I hate! We made it though, with enough time to cruise through the Taco Bell drive thru for a snack. Taco Bell... it's one of those places that you never think to go to but when you drive by and are starving it suddenly sounds really yummy. It hit the spot, and I made it through my appointment without dying of hunger!

Ari was an angel today, minus the hour and a half of crying before his nap this morning. He finally did fall asleep though, which was nice. He watched "Baby Einstein Neighborhood Animals" at my appointment today, my PT has a 5 month old little boy, she's gonna get him this DVD after seeing how enthralled Ari was with it. He sat in his stroller watching that silly movie for almost an hour without a peep!

We cleaned up the house a bit this afternoon, my brother called from Korea to chat about Christmas gift ideas... he's going to buy a house when he gets back to the states in the spring so I thought I'd get a jump start and buy him some essentials so he doesn't have to worry about it. He's going for the black, red & brushed stainless steel contemporary look, perfect for a single guy in his twenties! I found some really neat stuff for him, but I know he reads this so NO HINTS!!!

Matt gets home tomorrow, we're going to Gymboree and may run a few errands but other than that, no plans here. I didn't realize that Thanksgiving was next week, I've got to get on the ball getting this place ready for visitors when we return from up north. I may get a jump start on Christmas decorating too, depends on my motivation level... Oooh, and my camera shipped out today, should be here by the end of the week! WooHoo!!

Breakfast of Champions!

Pumpkin pie and hot chocolate! Doesn't get much better than that! Ari didn't take a very long nap this morning and I didn't have the energy to make anything, including a bowl of cereal. It was very tasty! We don't have anything planned today, we're both still hanging out in our jammies. Ari's about ready for another nap, I just looked in his play cage and he was very happily sitting inside his toy basket just looking around! I took a picture, even though we can't get them on the computer, I think I'm going to take the memory card to CVS and get prints made. Then I can scan them in and at least have something to look at! I'm running out of photos that I can scrap which is never a good thing.

I started our holiday wish list yesterday. It's hard to think of things, especially for Matt and Ari since they aren't telling me what they would like this year. I know Ari can't talk, but Matt can. He's just not a "stuff" kinda guy. He keeps saying that the things he wants can't be bought in stores. How sweet!!

We may venture out to Rivergate today, that's the big shopping center with Target, Home Depot, Old Navy, etc. Ari needs a new hat, his big head doesn't fit in any of the ones he has! Just as well, they have a huge sale and we all know how much I love to shop! Enjoy your Monday, hope it's nice and relaxing!!

Lazy Sunday

Wow, sorry it's been a few days! Guess nothing has really happened around here that I thought was worthy of a post. We've just been hanging out around the house, the past three days were Matt's only block of three days off for the whole month. That's a whole other story that I won't bug you with... anyway, he headed back to work this morning for four days [yuck]. Ari and I were planning on hanging out in our jammies all day but my friend Michelle called with an extra ticket to the Panther's game! We got all dressed and ready to go then I realized that the game started right smack in the middle of Ari's nap time. Based on what happened yesterday when we tried to go to the mall I figured that going to the game wouldn't be the best idea. I would feel horrible if (er, when) Ari melted down and we needed to leave early. Michelle, I really hope you found someone else to go with!!!

Yeah, yesterday... Matt and I decided to run out to the mall really quickly. We had a couple things to return and some gifts for christmas to pick up. The 15-20 minute drive to the mall took well over an hour, there was absolutely NOWHERE to park, and by the time we got in and grabbed a bite to eat Ari threw a FIT! I'm not talking a little fussing here, he was screaming his little blonde head off! He's never done that before, people were staring at us like we hit him or something absurd like that. The only thing that made him stop screaming was if I carried him upside down. That's right, I had to hold him by his legs and dangle him like a monkey. You would think people would stare at that but no, they only made it their business when he was throwing a fit. Go figure!

Hehe, so we will be doing the remainder of our holiday shopping via the internet!

Oh, how 'bout this!! Matt just called... apparently he's having a horrible day. [a little background info here: Flight crew need to be scheduled for a meal break every so often throughout the day. You'd think it's a given that they need to eat but apparently it's very often overlooked. To "make up" for the lack of meal break the company provides "crew meals" when there isn't enough time to get real food. Think high school cafeteria food, three days ago, packed in styrofoam and loaded onto a giant truck to await whomever might need them.] Anyway, Matt was in the crew room at the airport today and overheard another crew talking about their crew meals they had been given. One of the pilots opened up that bad boy and a LIVE MOUSE jumped out and ran away. I'm seriously nauseous now just hearing about it over the phone! Anyway, Matt's crew was just delivered their crew meals and needless to say, they refuse to eat them. Matt called and was told, "we've already heard about that. We called an exterminator so you aren't getting a meal voucher, eat what you have!". Um, how about NO! He told his crew to go inside and get something to eat, this is worth a delay! They are flying seven flights today over the course of thirteen hours, they need food!

Anyway, had to write that in here... just a small insight into our world! Ari bean just woke up from his nap, despite that nasty story we're going to grab a snack to hold us over 'til dinner. I need to make our christmas list and email it out today, other than that it's back into our jammies!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

A Little Bit About Me

My friend Michelle emailed this to me today. I thought I would answer it here instead of forward it to everyone. If you want to play too you can copy it to your blog. Leave me a comment if you do, I'd love to read about you!


1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Not that I am aware of
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Yesterday, listening to the interview with Terri Irwin (Steve Irwin's wife, the croc hunter) on NPR.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yep, sure do!
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LUNCH MEAT? Chicken breast, sliced really thin
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? 1, Ari
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Most definately
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? I try to, most people don't get it though
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? I don't think so, too risky now that I have Ari
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Frosted Mini Wheats
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Depends on the pair, generally no
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? In some regards, yes I do
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM? Mint Chocolate Chip
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Hmm, hard to describe... I notice their attitude, or lack of. I can tell if you're nice or not pretty quickly
15. RED OR PINK? Red
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVOURITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Doubting my decisions
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Amy & Brian (my brother)
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Of course
19. WHAT COLOUR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Brown pants (pajamas), white socks
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Cucumber & tomato salad with red onions
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Nothing
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU BE? Blue
23. FAVOURITE SMELLS? Ari after his bath & pumpkin
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? The cable lady trying to upsell us on movie channels
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes, I do
26. FAVOURITE SPORT TO WATCH? I don't watch sports
27. HAIR COLOUR? Light Brown
28. EYE COLOUR? Brown
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No, but I have in the past
30. FAVOURITE FOOD? Italian anything
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings, I'm a total sap
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Powder (so not a happy ending)
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Brown
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Either, there are positives and negatives about both.
35. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs
36. FAVOURITE DESSERT? Tiramisu (we can split it Michelle!!)
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I'm not really sure
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Not sure here either
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? I have a wireless mouse, no pad needed
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? Criminal Minds
42. FAVOURITE SOUNDS? Ari's voice, ocean waves & rain
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Hmm, Dominican Republic although I probably need to pull out a map to look at distances, I've been a lot of places.
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Not really, I read super fast, does that count?
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Troy, Ohio
47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Everyones…:)

Fun! I can't wait to see if others do this too! We had a pretty good day today. I woke up with a migraine (most likely due to Halloween candy withdrawl) but we went to the mall anyway. I really wanted to get a newsboy hat for Ari. Matt has one (since before they were so popular, he hates that you can get them anywhere now) and I wanted Ari to have one too for our pictures tomorrow. We found him the most adorable outfit, I can't wait to see it on him tomorrow! We even found little leather boots at BabyGap that match perfectly, I'm gushing with excitement to see him wear the whole thing. Hope it's not super cold in the morning, I don't want our faces to be red!

Well, that's all for tonight. Matt wants the computer to play the Sims so I'm off to my scrap table. I think Norah Jones on the iPod is in order, it's that kind of night! Sweet dreams everyone!

What goes up must come down

Ari and I woke up with Matt this morning so we could all have breakfast as a family before Matt had to head off to the airport. It was so nice, I made cinnamon rolls [yummy] and we were all cozy in our pj's! Matt headed out and we got ready to go to B.A.B.Y. class. It's given at the hospital where Ari was born, we've been going since he was six weeks old. We got all the way there (it's about 40 minutes from the new house) only to find out that class time was moved! Such a bummer. I started thinking about it and I don't think we're going to go anymore. It's not the same now that most of the babies are older, I don't seem to get as much out of it as I used to. That, and with our Gymboree classes and various other activities that take place during the week it gets a little over-scheduled. I think it will be nice to have an extra morning to snooze and be lazy around the house.

Since we missed class we decided to meet Matt for lunch again. Nothing fancy, we ate at Chili's in the airport and hung out until his next flight. After we saw Matt off Ari and I (ok, I) decided that it would be super fun to go to ScrapShack! Hehe, I got a few new things, not a lot though since we're on a pretty tight budget this month. SO many bills due and we're trying to start holiday shopping. Not to mention Ari's upcoming birthday... I'm nervous about all the shopping. Beleive it or not, I really don't like to spend mass amounts of money all at one time. Oh well, such is life and I guess that's what we get for wanting a baby NOW and getting our wish!! I am really looking forward to the holiday season, so much so that we are having some photos taken Friday for our holiday cards!! I may or may not post them, I don't want to ruin the cards. I'm off to finish up some laundry then it's straight to my scrap table, I'm going through some serious scrappy withdrawl!! Have fun all...

** WARNING **

Just a quick note, if your going to leave a comment that has nothing in it but spam don't waste your time!!! I love comments from people but don't solicite anything here, it's really not welcome. Thank you!

That being said, I really do love it when people come to visit and I love to hear what you all have to say. Please don't just leave a comment that links someone to something that might not be safe. I would hate to be responsible for anything that might come of an unsafe post. My computer and the things that come from it are totally secure, we have more anti-virus and anti-spyware than the Pentagon (thanks Matt, I really appreciate it!) and I'd like to keep it that way!!

I have deleted the questionable comment, so please don't worry!! Have a "safe" day!!

Busy Busy Monday

I was debating whether or not to blog today since the camera isn't working. I feel like my entries are really boring if it's all just words and no pictures. So much happened today though, and I didn't update all weekend so I thought I'd post anyway.

We got my car back this morning! I was thrilled to turn in the minivan and drive the Vibe home, but very nervous at the same time. I feel like it's not the same car, it's damaged goods now. I'm getting used to it again though, It's funny because I made Matt drive it home to make sure the wheels weren't going to fall off... I had to take it to my PT appt. and when I got behind the wheel for the first time I felt like I was driving a Go-Kart. He called me on his break from class today and I told him what I thought, he laughed out loud! I know he's happy to have the Vibe back, he loves that car.

I had to run to Target before my appt. this morning. While Dick and Sharon were visiting this weekend we were all upstairs hanging some things on our bedroom walls. Ari was crawling around, we closed all the doors except his room so we didn't think he could get into that much trouble. Wrong. He completely pulled apart his humidifier and was playing in the water inside the machine. Needless to say we can't get it to work now so we bought another one today. I also got Ari one of those "push toys" that he can walk behind now and ride when he's bigger. He hasn't figured out how to push it yet, he just spins the wheels with his hands.

My therapy went well today. We did the stretches that I've been doing but she also did Ultrasonic Heat Therapy, which is basically an ultrasound of my back that shoots heat waves way down deep to the parts of my body that are "broken". I am also the proud new wearer of a "TENS" unit. Transcutaneous Electronic Nerve Stimulation. I have four electrode patches that I wear on my back that are hooked up to a little box that I wear on my belt. The box delivers small electrical pulses to the muscles in my back. The point is that the nerve stimuli reaches my brain before the pain sensation so my brain is basically distracted from being able to relay the pain sensations. It's pretty cool, it's the only thing that has even remotely worked since all this started! I get to wear it for a while, my next appt. is Friday and we will take it from there!

Matt just called, he's on his way home from training. We're going to grab a bite to eat and play with Ari tonight. My wonderful dad bought us a new camera as an early christmas gift so hopefully I can put up some pictures by the end of this week!

Super Fun Day

This is going to be a fairly quick post, Matt's parent's are coming to visit this weekend and their flight lands in about 45 minutes. We had such a great day today! Ari was super happy, more like his old cheerful self! We went to Discovery Place to see the Body Worlds exhibit by Gunter Von Hagen. It was AWESOME!! Not sure if you are familiar with the exhibit but this guy (Gunter) invented a technique called "plastination". It's a way of injecting every miniature part of the human body thus preserving it for eternity. The point of this wonderful invention is that we as "regular people" can see the inside of a real human body, up close and personal. More about that later, it's just by far the coolest thing I have ever seen!

We went with our friends Michelle, Ella, Alice and Charlie. The babies were all a little edgy through the exhibit but after the adults were done looking we all went downstairs to the aquarium and play area. The babies totally perked up and played very nicely together for quite a while, we were there for over three hours with no naps. Impressive for a group of sleep deprived ten month olds! Ella and Charlie are boycotting their naps as well, glad to know Ari has some company!

We're going to hang out this weekend, very low key. My back is super achey after today and my next therapy appt. is Monday so I am going to try to kick back this weekend. If I don't update this weekend I definately will Monday. Alice is going to email me photos from today since my camera died, hopefully I can post them! Enjoy your days everyone!

Sad Day

My very best friend informed me today that her step-father has been diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer. I've never been more sad, there really isn't anything anyone can do for him at this point. It baffles me that modern medicine has progressed as far as it has but his doctors just come out and say, "sorry, we're out of options". I really don't get it. My heart is breaking for our family, they've been closer to me than many of my blood relatives throughout my life. Promise that you will make all of the men in your life get regular physicals, the only symptom Larry had was that he had to wake up at night to go to the bathroom. It's so important to get all the little things checked out, I know we are all guilty of "wait and see". Life is too short!

Speaking of doctors, I had my first PT appointment today. It went well, I was given some stretches to work on (most of them I already do) and there are a few other things we are going to try. I'll wait to mention those until the actually happen. My next appt. is Monday so we'll see what happens.

Another bit of bad news... since our desktop bit the big one last week we haven't had a chance to download photos. I went to the Canon website today only to find out that our digital camera isn't compatible with Windows Vista. How crappy is that. Now we have to buy a new camera on top of a new TV and computer. We're SO technologically jinxed lately, I'm afraid to touch anything that has a plug.

On a very happy note, we found out today that Matt has to be given his remaining two weeks of vacation that he was not allowed to take earlier in the year. Chances are he will have the first two weeks of December off! It's fantastic since my lil' brother will be home from Korea for a month! I'm totally stoked that we will all get to visit together, most likely down at my dad's on the beach. Gotta love beaches in December, it doesn't get much better than that!

I'm also SO excited that I won the Pay It Forward RAK (random act of kindness) from Kristy's blog today! It's been quite a while since I've won anything, I was beginning to wonder if I've turned unlucky! Anyway, stay tuned to see my awesome RAK and I will be putting together a little RAK of my own to pass on to one of you! More details to come...

I'm headed to bed fairly early tonight, I feel drained! Tomorrow we are going to see Body Worlds with Michelle, Ella, Alice and Charlie. I'm REALLY looking forward to it. I was supposed to go for my birthday (Sept. 1) but it never happened so needless to say I'm chompin' at the bit! We will probably grab a bite to eat while were out and then hopefully Dick and Sharon will get here tomorrow evening! Hope everyone has a great night!