An Attempt to Organize Chaos

Long long time

2011-10-05T11:01:00.002-04:00

It is so difficult for me to remember to blog. Of course I am doing it right now because I am supposed to be writing a paper for school. This summer was really difficult for my family because I have been dealing with health issues. I hope that this fall brings better things for us. I am so grateful for my wonderful husband for taking charge with the children and the family while I was unable to. I look forward to the fall and being more of a part of the family again and working hard on my masters. It is going to begin to look up for us. I have faith in that because I have faith that our savior is there and he is watching after us. We are blessed even when when feel that we are not.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TURNER

2011-07-06T08:07:00.001-04:00

WOW!! My little boy is 6 today! I cannot believe how fast time has flown by. He is smart and sensitive and loving. He is good at school, sports and making us laugh. I do not know what I would do without him in my life. God truly blessed me when he gave me this little boy!

Thoughts on Reese

2011-06-07T14:45:00.002-04:00

I like the MTV shows 16 and pregnant and also teen mom. It amazes me sometimes when I think about it how it is showcased that these teenagers are having babies. I know that I like the show and stuff, but then I think about Reese and what I want her to know and how to teach her. I can't think about it for long without overwhelming myself, but I know I want her to be happy and be able to do anything she wants with her life. I know I want her to experience love and stability, friendship, trust and honesty. I want her to know the difference between right and wrong, and even though I know that she is going to make mistakes, Ryan and I are here for her and will be there for her forever. She is strong willed and independent which I think will be great for her future. She has an older brother that loves and cares for her so much. They are best friends. Even with all that she has going for her, I worry about her and the future. I know that my faith in Jesus Christ and our God is strong, and I know that they will be there for everything. I think that is what I need to continue to focus on so that I will enjoy the moments I have with her now and not worry about tomorrow.

Fresh Start

2010-12-31T15:39:00.002-05:00

There has been so much that has happened this past year. I started grad school, became a vegetarian, sent my first born to all day kindergarten, celebrated birthdays and holidays, and lived to tell the tale. I am amazed at how fast time flies by, but when you are living minute to minute it seems so slow. One of my resolutions this year is to write more on the blog so that I have a better record of the day to day things that interest me. I hope that everyone had a wonderful 2010, and you are all looking forward to 2011! :)

Prayers

2010-03-10T10:11:00.002-05:00

Ryan's grandfather has been in and out of the hospital for the past 6+ months with several issues. Last week he had open heart surgery and we found out he has a really weak heart. He is in the Cardiac ICU and has MRSA. Hopefully he will be moved to the ICU soon and then to a room. Please keep him in your prayers!!

Wow

2010-03-01T17:25:00.002-05:00

I cannot believe that I have not been on here since the beginning of December. So much has happened! Reese turned 3, we celebrated Christmas and New Years, had A LOT of snow, celebrated my birthday, and are moving into March at full speed. I will be posting a lot of photos and stuff over the coming days! I really need to get better at this whole blogging thing!!

Thanksgiving weekend

2009-12-02T08:39:00.002-05:00

I love Thanksgiving! It is my favorite Holiday of the year. Don't get me wrong, I love the Christmas spirit and all of the decorations, but Thanksgiving just makes me happy. I think that it is so nice to get together with family and enjoy one another. I also love the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. I would love to go to it one year with the kids. I also love that there is no pressure for anything but quality time on Thanksgiving. I am so thankful for my amazing family. Everyday my children are growing and learning and just amazing me with all that they are able to do. I love to watch them and experience life through them all over again. I love their little smiles and big hugs and the way they are confident that Daddy and I still have all the answers. I love the way they smell after bath time and the way they fit just right when we cuddle. I love everything about my children, even when they are trying my patience. I just adore them! I am thankful for a wonderful husband who loves me more than I ever thought anyone would. I love that he is so good with the kids and he would rather be with us than anywhere else. I am so thankful that he goes to work everyday and works so hard for his family. I am thankful that we are so different because we bring out things in one another that we would not experience with out one another. I love him so much and I am so happy we are raising this family together.

I am thankful for our home. It is nothing extravagant and has a lot that needs to be done to it, but it fits us just fine. It keeps us sheltered and warm and it feels homey to me. I love that our kids have a stable place that they can call home and know that they are safe and loved in.

I love that I have a strong faith in God and his son Jesus Christ. I know that I have a long way to walk in my faith, but I know that our heavenly father loves us very much and is watching over us. We are so blessed to know that we have him.

I am grateful for all my amazing friends. Some of them I don't talk to or see all that often, but they are all wonderful and I am so lucky that they have all touched my life. I am thankful for all of my new friends and that we are able to support one another through things that we are all going through with our families or us personally. They are all such amazing people that I don't know what I would do without.

I think that I also love Thanksgiving because I love the anticipation of the Holiday season. I love the sights and sounds and smells. I love the warm feeling that I get when we are cuddling together at night reading Christmas stories next to the tree. I just love this time of year!!

Sorry this post was so long and on going... I am thankful for all of you that I keep in touch with through this blog too!!

Halloween

2009-11-02T13:10:00.008-05:00

Halloween was so much fun this year. Turner went as Batman and he asked Daddy to go as Robin, and Daddy being the trooper that he is he did it! Reese went as Sleeping Beauty, and I went as Merryweather, the blue fairy. Grandma and Pj came to trick or treat with us along with Aunt Sue and Aunt Alyssa. We all had a great time!!

Our Family

Robin and Merryweather

Grandma and PJ came as a Matt Stover field goal!

Woah... hold up there Batman!

Close up...

Trick or treating!

Well, Hello there Bumblebee!

Halloween parties

2009-11-02T12:59:00.005-05:00

The kids had a great week last week with all the Halloween stuff. Reese loved her party with all of her kids, and they all dressed up! Turner dressed up as Batman and his best buddy Sophia dressed as Batgirl. It was really cute! Our camera died after the first shot at Turner's party, but Sophia's mom took some that I will post when I get them!

Reese eating snack with her friends

Reese's buddy Michael

Class picture

Turner and Sophia! So cute!!

Cute

2009-11-02T12:52:00.003-05:00

Some times my kids can be really cute. They do really cute things, like their art from school which we love to put all of the fridge, but they also can pose really cute waiting for a pic!

Our own gallery

Turner's drawing and story of our few days with the class bear Winnie!

Reesie-roo

Turner loves video games

So cute!!

Playing with the camera

2009-11-02T12:41:00.003-05:00

My kids love to play with our camera. Santa brought Turner one last year, but that is not nearly as cool as ours. I am constantly telling them to not touch it, but through it all they have started to take some decent photos. Now only if they would let the people know who they are shooting to smile it will be better! Here are a few. We also have a ton of photos of the tv which is all of Word World, their favorite show... but I did not really feel the need to keep all of them!

Smile Mom

Hello Mrs. Mary

Smile Dad

A Picasso Close-up

Disney on Ice

2009-11-02T09:11:00.002-05:00

Last Thursday we took the kids to see Disney on Ice: Celebrations with our friends Ky and Larry, and their two kids, Madison and Paul! We all had such a good time. Disney does an amazing job and I will definitely be making sure to get tickets to more of these shows. Also because Ky is awesome friend, and she was down town, she picked up all the tickets and for only 81 dollars we got 4 tickets for our family in section 108. We were in the first row of that section!! The seats were amazing for the price that we paid. Our kids went full out dressed in Disney gear! I love seeing life through their eyes... everything is so exciting and fun. I think that Ryan and I have more fun watching them then they have!

Here are a ton of pictures of the fun night!!

Turner and Reese before the show

Be Our Guest!

The kids were mesmerized!

What do we celebrate when no one is having a birthday??
An Un-birthday of course!

Turner and Maddie are such buddies!

Another standard pose for the evening

Ky, Larry and Paul :)

Fantasia

The brooms

Here comes Halloween and the villans!

Valentine's day with the princesses!
(tons of pictures because Reese LOVES princesses!!)

Aladdin and Jasmine

Belle and her prince
(my favorite disney princess!)

One of Reese's favorites:
Cinderella and Prince Charming

Mulan

Jasmine and Cinderella watching

Snow White

Ariel and her prince

Lots of Cinderella!!

Minnie's prince charming...
Mickey

Let's celebrate summer vacation

In Hawaii with Lilo and Stitch

and New Orleans

We can't forget the Holiday season!

and all the toys!! (Turner's favorite!)

and of course Tinkerbell!

more Buzz and Woody

the snowy finale :)

Talking about all the fun

Soooo excited!

2009-10-26T13:23:00.000-04:00

I am so excited. Our friends Ky, Larry and their kids and us are all going to Disney on Ice on Thursday. We were able to get 4 tickets for 81 dollars in the first row of 108 at First Mariner Arena!! (Thank you Ky for suggesting to pick them up down town and running to do it! You ROCK!!) Just thought I would tell everyone how excited we are!!! Lots of fall pictures to come soon :)

Really cute

2009-10-26T10:01:00.002-04:00

I have snack again for Turner's class today. I have decided to try and get more creative with my snacks, and since it is so close to Halloween I decided to make Spooky Brownies. It was a little time consuming, but REALLY stinkin' cute. I can't wait for him to enjoy them today with all of his friends. My neighbor saw them and has now requested them for her Halloween party on Saturday!

Here is a picture of them for the Betty Crocker site. I will post pictures of the ones I made later!!

Catching up

2009-10-12T19:48:00.003-04:00

This fall I have felt like all I have been doing is playing catch up. I started teaching in the city 2 days a week and I have also been teaching a class on Saturday mornings. I really love teaching and I see myself doing it full time in the near future, but I have realized that my children are number one and I can't do it all. I really need to be with them as much as possible still. I don't really like my kids being with random sitters and Ryan works too, so I am trying to cut back my hours some... now only if my boss would cooperate and get moving on this (it has been 3 weeks that we have been trying to get coverage for the Tuesday afternoon classes....)

I have also been working out with a personal trainer for about 6 weeks or so now. I am seen definite results and I am loving it! I am making huge milestones and I crave the exercise when I don't do it. This is HUGE for me and I am really proud of myself :)

I am also PTA president at the kids school... well enough said there!

The kids are growing up right before my eyes! I just adore my kids even when they are a handful!

Reese's First Day of School

2009-09-19T12:22:00.005-04:00

Reese is such a Big Girl now! She was going to be the oldest in her 2's class by quite a bit, so we talked to the school and she was moved into the 3s class. She is doing so well. She has made friends, done art projects, learned about the letter A, told the teacher when she has to use the potty, and all around seems to be blending in well with the class. She will be in school 3 days a week now! We are so proud of her! Here are some pictures from her first day!

Getting ready to get in the car

Turner and Reese

Come on Mom... We are not even at school yet!

Wanted to sit in the back

Outside of the school, in front of the sign!

She went right in the class room and started playing

Outside with her class

Mrs. Zachary getting ready to help Reese down the pole

Walking with Daddy

Daddy and his girl!

I did it! One day down, 20 more years to go!!

Raven's game

2009-09-19T12:00:00.005-04:00

Last weekend our neighbor Katie took the kiddos for the day for us so that we could go to the opener for the Ravens! Ryan and I are huge football fans and LOVE fall because it is football season. If you did not know the two teams we are crazy about are Penn State (Ry's alma mater) and the Ravens (who would not love a team that they saw start from the ground up!)! Here are some pictures from our fun day out at opening game... oh yeah.. WE WON!!

Beginning of game

The Rents

Go Ravens!!

Kid Free us!

Let's Go Flacco!

Oh Yeah!

Christina and I

We won!

We love our Raven's!!

Upcoming

2009-09-18T20:57:00.001-04:00

I know it has been a week since I last posted, but we have had a pretty good week. I will be posting more soon in the near future, but for right now I am still in recovery mode. I came down with the swine flu this week. Awesome, I know. If my fever stays away until tomorrow morning I am not contagious anymore, however I am still supposed to take it easy for a while longer! It is not pleasant... I suggest staying far away from it!!! I hope to post more this weekend (like the kids first week at school- Turner's second year, Reese's very first week of school ever!!), but if I don't I will post early next week :)

So Fun!

2009-09-12T22:17:00.002-04:00

Ryan and I took the kids to Sesame Street live last night! It was really fun. The kids absolutely loved it. Turner was a little more serious about it in his enjoyment, but Reese was all out having a good time. Unfortunately we forgot our camera, but I will never forget Reese dancing the Hula and singing "Hot Hot Hot" to Ryan. She was all smiles and really played along with everything that was going on. She did whatever the characters asked them to do! It was the cutest thing. To see my kids having such a great time filled me completely with joy. I felt like I was going to burst, and I almost let a few tears of happiness fall! I asked them what their favorite parts were, and Reese said she loved seeing all of the girls (being Zoe and Abby), and Turner loved seeing Elmo! They are still talking about how much fun it was and Reese now wants to take dance class even more!

Here are some photos from my blackberry that we took last night. The quality is not great, but you can tell how much fun they were having!

The Stage!

Turner fasinated

Reese memorized

Bad picture, but some of the characters!

Ryan and the kids

Turner all smiles

Reese all smiles

My love bugs!

Mommy's girl!

Dedication

2009-09-09T05:51:00.001-04:00

I am up... It is 5:51am... I got up at 5:30am... I worked a full day yesterday after doing cardio for an hour... I am back off to the gym to do cardio and meet with my personal torturer (or trainer as some call him).... This is dedication ;)

Love my family

2009-09-07T15:27:00.001-04:00

Even though it was a complete bummer to have to come back from the beach early, it did allow the kids and I some much needed time with Ryan. I feel like life is so busy most of the time and we all need to slow down and enjoy each other a little more. I completely believe that all things happen for a reason and that this past weekend the reason was that all of us needed to be together! I really just love my little family :)

Home again

2009-09-05T07:12:00.002-04:00

This past week I worked 2 almost full days teaching down at the Inner Harbor East Academy. It is downtown Baltimore. I really loved it. I am going to really enjoy teaching down there this year. After I was done teaching on Wednesday the kiddos and I took off to go to Rehoboth Beach, DE to visit my grandparents. We had a really nice time visiting with them. I got a lot of the clothes and shoes and stuff I needed for the kids down at the outlets... which I love because there is no taxes!! We were not supposed to come home until tomorrow sometime, but on Thursday I started to feel a little crummy. Then yesterday I really started to feel bad, and after talking to my primary care doc on the phone yesterday afternoon he gave me the option of going to patients first or coming home and seeing him at 9 am this morning. So needless to say we packed up and came home 2 days early so that I can go to the doctors. I am really bummed that I had to come home early, but I did not sleep all that well last night and I am still really feeling lousy so I am glad I am home for that reason. It will be nice also to get to spend the long weekend with Ryan, who was not going to come down to the beach! I guess everything does happen for a reason!

Day 1

2009-09-01T16:23:00.001-04:00

Today I taught my first day at Inner Harbor East Academy (IHEA for short). I loved it. I loved every minute of it. I know that I want to teach full time as soon as the kids are in school all the time. I love being in the classroom. The only thing that I would change would be to not teach art. Art is a passion of mine and I love teaching it now, but I think that I would rather be an Elementary Ed. teacher. I think that I would love having my own classroom and being with the kids full time and not moving from classroom to classroom like I am doing now. I love what I am doing now and I love teaching kids about the arts, but teaching the same lesson over and over again all week gets a little repetitive. I love doing it right now, but I am looking forward to teaching all subjects. I am also going to look into Teach for America and see where that may lead. I am really looking forward to working more this year!

Hooray!

2009-08-31T16:13:00.000-04:00

So I am teaching for 2 almost full days this year at Inner Harbor East Academy! I am excited, but nervous at the same time! Wish me luck, my first day is tomorrow!!

Quick recap, but more...

2009-08-31T10:09:00.002-04:00

The past 6 months have been crazy and good with all the ups and downs that life throws at us. We successfully completed Turner's first year of preschool and he is moving on to the 4's this year. Reese will also be going to preschool starting in the 2's because she is a little quieter and a total mommy's girl. I think that the socialization for her will be a really good thing.

Ryan and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary in July! I am so lucky to be married to Ryan. He is the most thoughtful, sweet and caring man. I am so lucky to have him in my life and I look forward to the next 5 years.

Turner turned 4 in July too. He is all boy. He loves sports and picking on his little sister, but will stand up for her to anyone else. He is the greatest son and big brother we could ever ask for. He is the big brother that I always wanted when I was growing up. I cant wait to see how their relationship continues to grow in the future.

Reese broke part of her foot in July. She was in a cast for 3 weeks and now has a little limp, but we all survived. I would have sworn that Turner would have been my first in a cast, but I was mistaken! Also, a little fun tidbit... they make water proof casts now. It was $60 more, but TOTALLY worth every penny!!

I have been working a lot at work teaching all the little kiddos about art, and also working hard in other areas of my life. I have lost almost 40lbs since January! I am addicted to the gym and even hired a personal trainer who is kicking my butt 2 times a week. I feel great about myself and I have more energy than I ever imagined I could have!

Upcoming for us is the kids first days of school, I am PTA president, continuing to teach, Ryan working, and having fun in all we do! We look forward to blogging and posting pics a lot more frequently now that the laptop is here and easy to get to! YAY!

Finally!!!!

2009-08-30T17:16:00.000-04:00

I finally have a new computer after mine being broke forever! I will finally be able to reenter the blogging world and catch up on what everyone else is doing! YAY!!!!!!!

Seeing the light!

2009-03-15T12:57:00.002-04:00

February had been the month of sickness for all of us! I am glad that we are finally almost all the way through it all! Other than being sick, we did go to the beach to see my grandparents and we had a really nice time. My parents were there too and it was nice to be able to see all the family for more than a few hours! My kids want to go back to Mom Mom and Pop Pop's again soon. We will have to come up with a good time!

We had Turner's school conference and basically he is a normal 3.5 year old.. with all the good and the bad. Through that though we figured out he needed to have his eyes checked with some good problem solving by mommy! The eye doctor said that he is slightly near sighted but has a little bit of a lazy eye starting and so we are going to be putting him in glasses to help with the strengthening of the eye muscles which should hopefully help. The lazy eye is not visible to anyone and we hope that it will be quickly fixed! So his glasses should be coming in this week!

Reese is potty training and doing really well. We started last night and have had no accidents yet! She is definitely ready so we are excited about it.

Because Reese and Turner are making such giant steps in being big people with the glasses and the potty training we decided to reward them and my mother gave us money for Easter to buy them bikes! So both of our kids now have big kid bikes and we will teach them how to ride (turner is already pretty good) as long as Turner wears his glasses like a big kid and Reese continues to do well on the potty! I can't believe how big they are getting! It is amazing how fast the time flies.

I will hopefully post pics soon. :)

Pay it forward

2009-02-23T16:54:00.002-05:00

I got this from my friend Becca's blog! I thought it was really fun and would be fun to do things for others!!

Step Right Up

One of my friends has a wonderful site called Sanity for Moms. She has created so many things that I would not have even thought of. This year she decided to do a giveaway, and here's the details:

The first five people to leave a comment on this blog will receive something made by me.

However there are some limitations

1. I make no guarantee that you will like what I make.

2. What I create will be just for you.

3. It will be done this year. (might take a while)

4. You have no clue what it is going to be, blocks, sign, or a little invention of my own. I may bake something and mail it to you . Who knows? Not you that's for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. It may blow your mind!

Here's the catch, if you choose to do this. You must post this on your blog and be ready to make something for five people too. This will be fun! When you receive the fabulous item I make you, you must post a picture of it on your blog.

Finally

2009-01-29T16:25:00.001-05:00

Finally some new posts and pictures! Sorry it took so long I had the stomach bug this weekend. Make sure you click and see the older posts! I posted a ton of stuff today!

Snow

2009-01-29T16:13:00.005-05:00

We love snow! Turner and Reese both loved it this year. The loved sliding down the front hill on their bellies. Turner went sledding with Tracey, Jeff, Jeffrey and Riley. Reese played out front with Ryan and Hannah! Fun was had by all! (it is such a difference from last year with Reese! There were no tears!)

Haircut

2009-01-29T16:04:00.002-05:00

Reese finally let Mrs. Dawn cut her hair without sitting on my lap! Here are some photos from her big step! She even got her hair braided and curled!

Reese sweater!

2009-01-29T16:01:00.002-05:00

I finally made Reese a sweater! I really love it! Here are some cute shots of her in it and her loving her baby!

Shaving

2009-01-29T15:56:00.001-05:00

Grammy and Pop gave Turner some play shaving stuff in his stocking at their house this year. Turner loves it. He gets to shave as a reward for being good in the bath. Of course it is Transformers shaving stuff so it makes it even more exciting. Reese even loves to partake in the shaving festivities!

Dress up

2009-01-29T15:53:00.002-05:00

A reoccurring game at our house is dress up. Turner is still in love with his Buzz Lightyear costume and Reese, well you all know Reese... fairies and princesses! When Daddy is home they get to fly!

Scooter

2009-01-29T15:49:00.002-05:00

Turner got a scooter for Christmas from my grandparents and both kids LOVE it! They especially love getting in all of their safety gear and wearing it all day long. I don't know why but we only have some shots of Reese right now.

Miracles

2009-01-29T15:40:00.003-05:00

Occasionally miracles happen at our home and our children actually are nice to one another. It is not very often and when it does happen we are trying to catch it on film to remind ourselves that they will one day actually like one another! Here is a couple cute shots we got of them together without being coached! I think that they really do adore one another but have a pact to drive mom up a wall!

Our own band

2009-01-29T15:34:00.002-05:00

For Christmas Ryan and I received Guitar Hero Rock band for our Wii. Needless to say it has become a family activity! Turner pretends he is Pastor Mark from school who comes in and sings with them. It is really cute! (Ryan from next door joined the band too!)

Kids

2009-01-29T15:17:00.002-05:00

We got a new camera over the holidays because my really nice one needs to go into the shop and because I needed one to have in the diaper bag! I love it. It is a Canon with 10 megapixels! I am going to figure out all the new features eventually.

Turner being cute

Turner with his 2 favorite things... Froggy and Optimus slippers!

Reesie!

Soon!

2009-01-19T19:59:00.002-05:00

So I know that I am so far behind in posting, but since I am sick and I really don't feel like uploading the hundreds of photos from the holidays, I am just posting now to help remind myself to do it this weekend! I promise by next Monday we will have a better post!

Marriage

2009-01-01T21:59:00.002-05:00

Let me start by saying that I am so in love with my husband and I do think that he and I are in it forever together! As I was browsing my yahoo homepage I cam across this article about marriages... it is 7 things that no one will ever tell you, but you know is the truth about marriage! It was so true and it really made me think about my marriage and how lucky I am that I am married to someone who loves to work through it all with me! If you are married and reading this article I attached I know you will all be going "uh huh... that is so true!" and for those of you who are not married, I promise you will look back after saying the I Do's and join the rest of us with seeing how much of a journey marriage is! My favorite was the number about how you make you happy! I am such a firm believer in that and my mother always taught me to take accountability for my own feelings and I try to bring that in to my marriage and know that I need to make me happy... things Ryan does for me helps, but I am ultimatly responsible for me and my feelings! I am so lucky with my husband, but I was really glad to read this artilce and have it reaffirmed that everyone is going through the same things!!

Marriage article

Long time!

2008-12-10T13:11:00.006-05:00

I have had a lot of people remind me that I need to update this thing! I feel that time just has flown by and the past month is a blur!

Halloween was a lot of fun. Reese was Nemo and Turner was of course Buzz again! They loved wearing their costumes and still are obsessed with dressing up! I think they wish it was Halloween all the time. We visited most of the grandparents and then Grandma PJ came trick or treating with us. It was a lot of fun! Here are some long over due photos from Halloween:

My Buzz and Nemo!

Nemo

Daddy and his kids!

Reese and her PJ

Buzz

After that we spent November running Turner to and from school and getting ready for Thanksgiving and Reese's birthday. Thanksgiving was fun. We went to Ryan's grandparents and had lunch. It was at 2, so the kids did not nap before hand. I was more than a little worried about this, but they did surprisingly well and we all survived. Then the weekend after we spent time putting up some holiday decorations outside and the stockings in the house. We cleaned a lot and got a lot of stuff done for Reese's birthday. It was a good weekend overall. The only really downside to November is that our family has been passing a cold around now for weeks. We have all had it and I have caught it for the second time. Poor Ryan had it so bad he finally had to see a doctor! Hopefully this means that we will all be feeling better for Christmas though!

Last week Reese turned 2!! It is amazing how fast the time flies. With her turning 2 also came the terrible 2's full force! It is crazy how awful my 2 children can be together. Sometimes I think that Ryan and I were completely insane for having them so close together, but then I know in the long run that it is going to be a wonderful thing. They really do love and comepletely depend on one another! It is amazing to think that we helped create and foster that type of bond between them. I hope that they are always as close as they are now!

So... on to Reese's birthday... it turned out to be a complete week of birthday stuff!! On Wednesday night Grandma and Pj came over and brought dinner and a cake! They gave Reese the Giddy up and Go pony. She was scared of it at first, but by the weekend she was riding it like a pro! Then on Thursday we took her to see Nanny and Pop Pop while Turner was at school and that night we had the Watchorn's over for dinner. Reese loved playing with Ryan and she got lots of fun presents from us and them and Aunt Erin... oh yeah, and her second cake! Then on Friday night we went to Grammy and Pop's for dinner and she got a cabbage patch doll, and fun story books and play dough... oh and an ice cream cake!! And finally on Saturday, after weeks of waiting, she had her My Little Pony brunch with all of her little girl friends! (and yes another cake!! haha) The party was a lot of fun! She has such good little girl friends! We all had a good time.The Winnie the Pooh cake!

The cake I made her! (it was pink inside!)

Family

Her ice cream cake at Grammy's

Her favorite gifts were her dress up stuff! (she got fairy and Fancy Nancy stuff too!)

Her My Little Pony cake

Reese and her friend Maisie

Princess Fairy Reese holding Paul

Fairy Reese riding her pony!

Away she goes!

On Sunday I woke up not feeling well, but trudged through and went to cut down our Christmas tree on the coldest day of the year! The tree is cute, but really small and I am already ready to take it down! The kids are taking ornaments off everytime I turn around!! Even though I LOVE this time of year I will be very excited when the tree is gone! I think that next year we will have more luck with them not touching it!

The other reason that this fall has been so busy is because Ryan is finishing his masters! After tonight he will be officially done! YAY Ryan! I am really happy for him, but even more for us. I know that he has been working really hard since the fall that Reese was born on this, but I have put a lot of work in supporting him through it and it was tough! At the end of the day I will be so glad to have my husband back!! YAY!

Reese is 2

2008-12-04T20:00:00.001-05:00

So my baby is 2 today! I cannot believe it! I am a little emotional about it, but hanging in there! It is such a big milestone! I will definitely post pictures after her party this weekend from her 2nd year!!

Invisible Mother

2008-11-12T16:10:00.001-05:00

I took this from my friend Becca's blog! It is really neat.

The Invisible Mother......

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously, not.

No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going; she's going; she is gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England ... Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals- we have no record of their names.

These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside
of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing pieces fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.
When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college forThanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'you're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Congrats Nicely Family

2008-10-29T12:55:00.003-04:00

I am really excited for my good friend Barb because she had her second baby really early this morning!! Muriel Lucyann Nicely was born at 2:24am! She is healthy and weighs 8lbs 5ozs and is 20.5 inches long! Congrats to the Nicely family! We cannot wait to meet her!

Riding the pony

2008-10-25T17:58:00.002-04:00

Reese is obsessed with ponies! She loves them all! She has My Little Ponies, books on ponies, other toy ponies... you name it and she has or wants the ponies! (all this is fitting because my sister has a pony and LOVES horses too) When I was born my grandmother's brother built all the future grand kids a rocking horse. Reese LOVES this. I think that this is her new obsession. She rocked on it for a while tonight, would get off and go back to it over and over again! It is so cute so we had to take pictures to post. (she is also obsessed with princesses... i think whatever her calling in life it is going to be expensive... hehe)

Reese riding!

So much fun!

Mom... please...

Fall time

2008-10-25T17:52:00.003-04:00

I was in charge of doing a dessert for book club last night and since it has been sooo fall like for the past week, I decided to make pumpkin pie! Turner went to the store to get the ingredients with me and then we all made them together! Here are some cute photos of the kids helping me out! It is so fun to bake with them!

Turner was the stirrer and Reese helped with the crust!

Good job Turner!

Pumpkin time

2008-10-25T16:46:00.005-04:00

Last weekend we went with Ryan's mother to Valley View farm to get pumpkins! It was so much fun. The kids are really excited about fall and Halloween. Here are some photos from our adventure!

Turner posing by the pumpkins!

Both kids in the fun little kids maze! Reese LOVED IT! Turner thought that it was fun, but only wanted to go one time. Reese went through it like 5 times!

A big smile the whole time.

She ran out and tight back in again over and over.

Hmm... how tall are we...

The kids put there faces in all five of the cut outs. They thought this was really funny!

Reese picked out her pumpkin! And she carried it (with a little help!!).

Turner and I waiting for the wagon to put his in!

Grammy and her Reese!

Grammy and her Turner!

A fun day was had by all!

Reese time!

2008-10-19T23:15:00.003-04:00

One of the most amazing benefits to Turner going to school is that I am able to get the one on one time I really crave with Reese. It is not that I don't love spending time with both of my kids, but I never had the extended one on one time with Reese that I was lucky enough to have had with Turner. We do a lot of fun things together and she is finally adapting to leaving Turner somewhere for a little while. We hang out with friends, go to stores, or sometimes come home and hang out together. I have noticed that she is definitely more outgoing and really excited about showing me things when she does not have to compete for my attention. It is amazing how she is becoming such a sweet and smart little girl! I am absolutely enchanted by her! One day we came home and made brownies together... here are some pics from that day!

Spoon: Check!

Stir: Check

Big Smile: Check Check!!

I LOVE HER!!!

Turner's art

2008-10-19T23:07:00.004-04:00

I am so proud of Turner and how well he is doing at school! He is bringing home and overflow of art work everyday! He says it is one of his favorite things to do at school... hmmm, I wonder where he gets that from... hehe! I am just so proud that he is loving school and bringing home all the fun stuff to show Ryan and I! Here are a few he brought home a few weeks ago...

His first cut and paste project

It has an apple poem on the back!

He brings home a new letter every week
(I need to get more pics... we are on letter F in real time!)

Knitting

2008-10-19T22:57:00.003-04:00

I have become completely addicted to knitting since Rachel taught me how! I love it and it is challenging, yet it comes pretty naturally. I love being able to make something out of 2 sticks and some yarn! Here are some of the things that I have made in the past month.

Called the Foliage hat!
(it looks like fall leaves!)

closer up

A hat for one of the twins

closer up again!

AHHH

2008-09-26T14:09:00.002-04:00

In the past few weeks we have been trying to cut down bills and save money. Part of it is because we found out that I will not be having the twins but one day a week now, and the other is because we want to be saving more and paying off more debt. So we traded in one of the cars and bought a 2008 new Nissan versa which we LOVE! It is getting at least 28mpg and we have save 50 dollars in the past 2 weeks in gas already! It is awesome. We are also switching to Verizon Fios for internet phone and TV. It is going to be a lot cheaper than the comcast we have now. Well, it has been a complete nightmare today! Poor Ryan has had to deal with them all day and it is basically all messed up because of a compter error, and then transferred to us! Great!!! So all in all once everything is set up and working we will be saving a lot of money.... but part of me is wondering is the money worth the stress?? I am sure the answer is yes... it is just getting there that is trying!

Settling

2008-09-19T14:07:00.003-04:00

So I am settling into the school routine now, and the weather is getting cooler which means..... FALL! I am getting excited for fall and all the festive activities, so in honor of fall I changed the background to fall themed! YAY!

Changing it

2008-09-18T14:34:00.000-04:00

So I am NOT going to leave my background like this, but in the process of changing it I ran into difficulties and now I have to wait for the hubby to get some time to fix it! Don't worry, the blinding white will not be around much longer!

First Day of School

2008-09-13T19:24:00.003-04:00

This week Turner had his first day of school! It was emotional for me, being that I have been with him ever day since he was born and now he is big enough to go to school! Needless to say he LOVES LOVES LOVES it! By the second day he was running through the door with out looking back. He has so much fun and adores his teachers. He will be going 3 days a week for 2.5 hours at a time. There is only 11 kids in his class and he is already talking about his new friends! Ryan and I are so excited about this new step! He is such an amazing boy!

Leaving the house!

Getting in the car!

Outside school with Daddy!

Posing behind the sign after school!!

Team Spirit!

2008-09-13T19:13:00.002-04:00

Ryan and I were both born and raised in Maryland, which means we were raised as huge Orioles, Ravens, and Maryland Basketball fans! Then Ryan went to Penn State main all four years so you have to add Nittany Lion fans to that list too! Needless to say we are raising our kids the right way as hugs sports fans! Last year our christmas card was us in PSU jerseys, then earlier this summer I put up a link to our O's pictures at Turner's first game, and now is the time for the most exciting... RAVENS!!! Ryan and I went to opening game thanks to my mom and Priscilla! We had an amazing time and we were all four decked out in Ravens gear! Here are some cute photos of Reese in her Raves outfit! (my mother does not approve... she said there is too many athletic genes in her blood to be a cheerleader... we think she is adorable and we may be dragging grandma to cheerleading competitions in the future ;) )

Outer Banks, NC

2008-09-13T17:10:00.013-04:00

Our little family had its first official family vacation this year. We planned a trip to Duck, NC which is in the Outer Banks with some friends of ours. This is the first trip that we have taken without one of our families. We went with our next door neighbors, Marge, Dave and their 19 month old son Ryan and also my good college friends Rachel and Matt. We rented a huge house called Moby Duck about a quarter mile from the beach. The house was amazing. It had its own private pool, hot tub, pool table, amazing kitchen and a ton of bed rooms with master bathrooms each with a whirlpool tub! We want to live there forever!

It was so nice to be able to have some fun with our little family. The first day on the beach both kids were a little hesitant. Reese much more so than Turner though. By the end of the first day on the beach though both kids were running in the little waves and playing in the sand. Thank you to Grammy and Pop for the new buckets and stuff! It was really neat to be able to experience the beach from Turner and Reese's perspective. I know I have mentioned that I love having kids because it gives me the opportunity to see everything in a new light through their eyes! It is so neat to see their eyes get big at the magnitude of the ocean and beach. It was fun to look at sand as a blank palate there to be made into the most amazing of structures. It is truly special to be able to take a step back and get a new look at the world that I take so for granted!

The pool is always a hit with my kiddos. They loved swimming, and will both hop right in with their tubes on. Turner got so brave he was jumping off the side of the pool with his tube on. The both loved it. They loved that Uncle Matt and Aunt Rachel would play for hours with them in the water. We all had a great time every afternoon playing in the pool and then afterward chilling in the hot tub! I think my whole little family wants a hot tub at home now! Maybe we can convince Marge and Dave to pitch in and we can put one in between the houses ;)

The one down side to the trip was that we had to come home a day early because Hanna hit the day we were supposed to leave. Other than that though there was not a cloud in the sky the whole time we were there and the temp was 86 degrees F and beautiful! We were so lucky with the weather!

Other fun things that we did at the beach was getting to see the Wildlife museum, Corolla Lighthouse, play on the playground, take walks, a little shopping, having lunch out with our friends, big "family" dinners with everyone around the big table, flying kites, and fun times with the adults after the kids went to sleep! Here are some fun pictures from our trip:

Not so sure about the sand

My Favorites on the Beach

Enough with the camera Mom!

More water

And MORE water!

Baby Feet in the sand!

Contemplating life!

Sadie swimming

Jump!

SPLASH!

Up for air

Mommy kisses

Hello camera!

Water belongs in the pool Reese!

Hot Tub time!

More Mommy Kisses!

Love my baby girl!

Daddy snuggles!

Kiddos

Sibling LOVE!

Daddy kisses!

Family 2008

Mommy time

Mommy and Reese

Mommy and Turner

Family Footprints

Just hours before Hanna hit!
Goodbye Duck!

Long time...

2008-08-17T16:39:00.004-04:00

I can't believe that it has been so long since I had a quality post. What have we been up to... hmmmm..... good question. After Turner's birthday we threw him a party that ended up being larger than I had anticipated. He has sooo much fun. A lot of his friends came and he was completely spoiled. The theme was Buzz Lightyear (yes he is obsessed!!). He also loves Diego and reccieved a lot of Diego things from his friends. He had so much fun that he is already talking about his next party (that he thinks he is planning... we have no plans ;) ), it is going to be a Woody party... nice!

We have had kind of a bummer of a summer. At first our breaks all needed to be replaced in the Element, then a neighborhood kid that did not idenify himself crashed into the van and his handlebar went through the taillight (200 dollars to fix... we are waiting for that one), our dryer broke (luckily our neighbor replaced the fuse and it worked again... with 2 kids not having a dryer would be tough) and then last week our air conditioning unit started sparking like fire workes. We were able to do repairs on all of them, but we know next year we are going to have to replace the air conditioner along with the front porch and sewer line. The front of our house and the neighbors house all share one porch with a railing that goes in between. THeir side is beginning to split, and so we have to replace it. While doing that we are going to be proactive in replacing the original sewer line. Oh the joys of being home owners.

I have begun to feel really down recently. I need to get back to the gym and I am going to do that tomorrow and I know that will help. I have always felt all this pressure to do something more with my life. Ever since I was little I have felt like I am not doing enough and that I am always looking to the next things. I do not know why this is. I wish I did. I guess it is one of those big character flaws that I have. I know so many people who are happy with being a stay at home mother or a working mom. I have no opinion on one being better than the other. I am supportive of both sides. I feel like I would want to go to work and not be at home most of the time, but I know I could never leave my kids with anyone (our parents all work). I know I do work by being a mom and I do have the twins 3 days a week and that is work too. I just feel stuck sometimes and I know that sounds awful, and believe me I wish it would change... I am sure this is just a stage, and I will move past it. I just wish that being with my children made me feel complete being that I only have limited amount of time with them. I don't know.

In big upcomoing news, we are going to the Outer Banks with friends in 2 weeks! I am excited. It is our first family vacation together away from MD and extended family! It should be a lot of fun. I am looking forward to playing on the beach with the kids and having some time with my family and good friends!

Even bigger than vacation is the week after we get back Turner starts Preschool! I am so excited for him. He talks about it all the time. He got a letter from his teacher and a new lunch box (for an occasional lunch bunch). I also made him his new school bag! We have been all looking forward to it and I know that he is going to love it! He is going three days a week for half the day! I will definitely keep you all posted on his first day and how it is going!

Reese is 20 months and doing really well. She is talking in sentences (finally!!) and she has a very large personality. She is definitely my daughter!! We are having a really fun time! This fall Turner is going to do Rebounders (grandmda's got it for him for his bday) and I am going to be spending some quality girl time!! I am really looking forward to it!

Ryan and I have been obsessed with the Olympics! Go Phelps! It is amazing what he has accomplished! It is a great thing for the USA and even more so for us Baltimorians!! :)

That is really all that is going on right now! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Being a slacker

2008-08-03T22:25:00.000-04:00

I know I am being a complete blogging slacker. Summer is being fun and full of adventures chasing the kiddos! I promise this week I will put up a real blog with pics!

Taken from Haley

2008-07-23T21:55:00.002-04:00

This is awesome for mindless wasting of time!

A is for age: 26... no complaints!
B is for burger of choice: I love all turkey burgers!
C is for what kind of car you drive: My mom mobile!! A 2007 Nissan Quest... and I actually love it!!
D is for your dog's name: Picasso, Kaden and Sadie
E is for essential item you use everyday: i agree with Haley in saying the coffee pot, but more than that my contacts
F is for favorite TV show at the moment: Project Runway
G is for favorite game: Cranium
H is for Home State:Maryland
.I is for instruments you play:Clarinet in middle school, Piano in high school
J is for favorite juice: Cranberry, it is all we drank growing up and i love oj but it upsets my stomach sometimes
K is for whose butt you'd like to kick:my own... i do it daily at the gym
L is for last restaurant at which you ate? uh... i think it was a deli sandwich from wegmans
M is for your favorite Muppet: Gonzo
N is for Number of Piercings: Four... two in each each ear
O is for overnight hospital stays: After both deliveries
P is for people you were with today: my kids, Klein girls, saw Haley this morning, Carl this afternoon, Priscilla for adjustments, and made a new friend at the gym
Q is for what you do with your quiet time: book worm!! and tv time, hanging with the hubby, computer time
R is for biggest regret: i don't have any
S is for status: happily married
T is for time you woke up today: 8 am
U is for what you consider unique about yourself: how i view the world and paint it
V is for vegetable you love: sooo many!! asparagus or artichokes are at the top though
W is for worst habit: binge eating when depressed or bored... i am trying to change this!!!
X is for x-rays you've had: way too many to count... knees, elbow, head, etc
Y is for yummy food you ate today: chicken tacos for dinner, cheese wrap and pear for lunch and honey wheat bagel with low fat veggie cream cheese and coffee
Z is for zodiac: Aquarius/ Pisces cusp baby

Memory Tag

2008-07-17T19:15:00.000-04:00

I got this from a friend's Blog post! It looks like fun! Leave a memory so I can leave one on yours!

1. As a comment on this post, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Congrats!

2008-07-09T11:46:00.002-04:00

YAY!! Congrats to our good friends Katie and Doug on the birth of their little boy! Caleb Benjamin was born today at 10:03 this morning! We are sooo excited for them! They are going to be amazing parents and I look forward to meeting Caleb one day soon! Congratulations!

Becoming Parents

2008-07-08T11:28:00.004-04:00

Three years ago today Ryan and I brought Turner home from the hospital! It was the scariest thing ever. Ryan drove sooo slow and I cried the whole way home. I swear the first ride home takes FOREVER and I saw Turner's whole future in front of my face. I sat in the back with him and talked to him through the tears. Ryan was gripping the wheel so tight I thought we were going to have to pry his fingers from the wheel. When we got home we started the challenge of being parents all alone. Thankfully family brought us food for the first week, but we really did get it together pretty quickly!

I will never forget one funny time though. We had just brought him home and he was sleeping. So we did the logical thing and laid him in the crib. Ryan went to lay down for a couple minutes and I was using the bathroom. The monitor was up all the way (new parents... ) right next to Ryan's head. Turner started crying and I could hear him from his room and echoing in the monitor and it NEVER woke Ryan up! It was sooo loud! So as quickly as I could (being that it takes 20 minutes in the bathroom) I got the baby and went in to tell Ryan things were going to change quickly! I was even calling for Ryan to get the baby. Needless to say he is very good about getting the screaming children now and learned quickly that being a parent means your deep sleeping days are interrupted! Here are some cute photos of the first few weeks with Turner!!

First time holding him!

Weighing him after birth!

Sooo cute!

Sooo little in the car seat!

Sleepy!

Snuggling with Daddy

Our little football fan!

Three Years

2008-07-06T21:04:00.001-04:00

Wow!! My baby is 3 years old today! I found out through a friend that you can turn your blogs into a book so I have come up with something I think is going to be really neat. I am going to show everyone a little bit at a time the last three years that Ryan and I have been parents! I am working on going through photos now and then a few at a time I will up load them and everyone can help reminisce with me! Watch out for it all to begin in the next few days!!

Before I do that though I wanted to show everyone a few photos of us celebrating his big day so far! Today we celebrated with presents first, then getting ready and bowling, then to Grammy and Pop's to play in the hose and cake and more presents! Here are a couple cute shots of them today! His party with his friends is next week!

Opening his present from Reese

Look I got Woody (from Toy Story)

And Buzz!

Bowling for the 1st time!!

Reese and her new baby bowling!

Keeping Score!

Posing with Daddy :)

Running in the Water

Reese is too!

Smile :)

Buzz on the Moon cake!

He loved it!! YAY!

YAY Turner is 3!!! I love him so much!

Congrats and D Day approaching

2008-06-21T22:03:00.002-04:00

I want to Congratulate good friends of ours, Ky and Larry on the birth of their beautiful baby boy, Lawrence Paul Jr! We are so excited for you and we know that Maddie is going to be an amazing big sister! I look forward to meeting Paul tomorrow and we are so happy that your little family has added such a fantastic new member! Congrats!!

Tomorrow Ryan leaves for a week! We are going to Cooper's baptism and then he is leaving for a conference in VA. The thing that sucks is not that he is leaving. If it was a conference that he was actually going to get something out of it would be totally worth while. Instead he is going to some stupid conference about leadership development... This is the third one in three years... there is not much more he is going to be getting out of it. And to top it all off, Wednesday is his birthday and he is going to be gone for that too. It all basically stinks, and I get to be a single mom for the week, and get to have a new appreciation for all the single mothers in the world. The only upside is that he is coming home, where as a lot of these mom's never get the break. So even though it all really stinks, I really am going to get a new found respect for the women who do this all the time! Sorry for the rant! I am sure it is going to be better than it seems... It just needs to start!

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-15T10:16:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to wish all the great Dads I know a very Happy Father's Day!! We hope you have an awesome day!!

Also I wanted to take a minute to wish Ryan a Happy Father's Day again! He is such an amazing husband and father. We are always number one on his priority list. He is so loving and caring and adores his children more than anyone I know. He plays rough with Turner and loves his boy time and then in the next second he is playing My Little Pony with Reese and being really sweet and compassionate! I always knew he would be a great dad, but he far exceeds everything I ever thought he would be! Thank you Ryan, you are the most amazing Dad I know!! I love you!

Fun Weekend

2008-06-09T18:38:00.002-04:00

My family had another fun and exciting weekend, even in the awful heat that has overcome the Baltimore area! On Friday night Haley, Chrissy and I all went to see Sex and the City! It was SOOOOO good! All i can say is that I would easily pay to see it again and I will be buying it when it comes out on video! I was really afraid that they were going to ruin the "perfect" ending that the series had given us, but they didn't. I laughed, cried and was moved all over again by the 4 women I escaped from my life once a week to watch! I can't wait to see it again!

Saturday we hung low. Turner has an infection that spread out of his nose and into blisters all over his face, so we let him chill while the antibiotics prescribed to him on Friday took effect. We enjoyed being together and I love down days like that!

Sunday we went to my Mom's house on the water and ahe took us out on her 47 ft new boat! It was amazing! We parked in a creek where we could ride around on the jet ski and swim! All 4 of us really enjoyed swimming in the bay! It was the first time for the kiddos swimming in the bay, and I look forward to doing it a lot more with them! Then we came back to her house and she cooked an amazing dinner and we were able to catch up more before we packed up and headed home!

Today was playgroup and we went over to Tracey's and enjoyed seeing all of our friends. Reese has been feeling a little down, so I kept them inside in the air conditioning most the day being that it is almost 100 degrees with all the awful humidity added to that! It is just really gross out! We are going to lay low with the twins and stay inside again tomorrow hoping that she is feeling more like herself soon!

Reflecting

2008-06-06T16:15:00.002-04:00

So I just looked at the date and realized that a month from today Turner will be 3 years old. I am amazed how quickly the time is flying by. I remember being REALLY pregnant with him.... going to the hospital to have him... holding him for the first time... bringing him home... his first pediatrician appointment.. the first smile... the first object he held (a paint brush!!!)... there are so many things I remember from the first summer he was home. The past three years have been a whirlwind of excitement and I cannot believe what was once my baby, then toddler is now my little boy! It is crazy! Sorry.... sappy mommy moment which I am sure more of to come as he approaches the big 3!!!

Awesome Weekend

2008-06-03T12:32:00.002-04:00

This past weekend was Greeny's baby shower in Hudson, NH! She is Haley's little little in the sorority and Farmer's little, and was my college roommate senior year. So the three of us got together after a lot of unnecessary drama (not caused by us) and took a road trip! (Haley and I are good friends now, but neither of us had talked to farmer in a while! The trip ended up being soooo much fun! All three of us talked the ENTIRE trip! It was awesome!) On Friday we went from here to West Chester, PA to pick up a gift from Rachel and Matt... then from there to CT with a little detour in the middle! If you are curious and staying at the Marriott suites in Danbury, CT, the pool closes at 12 and is not open again until 6... BUT there is free internet to entertain you those 6 other hours!! :) (inside joke!) On Saturday morning I woke up to Haley reading the phone book and we had free breakfast before we left! Then with another small detour due to us not reading the directions right, we bought gas for $4.29 (AHHHH) and headed to NH! The shower was nice and we got to see Lindsay and Matt from Gburg! Then after the shower, we all went to MA close to where Greeny and Doug live and had dinner at Friendly's . After dinner we got to see Greeny and Doug's house, which is SOOO cute! It was nice to be able to catch up for a while and I wish we lived closer so we got to see them more! I cannot wait to meet little Walo!! We stayed the night at a Hampton Inn in Braintree, MA. It was also a really nice hotel with free (and amazingly yummy) breakfast! Then started the long journey home on Sunday.... We went through MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, DE, and back to MD! After being in the car 8 hours, I was really excited to be home!! I missed the kids a lot, but they had fun with Daddy! If you want to hear his side of the weekend read his blog!! It is entertaining!

Some Pic

2008-05-29T18:53:00.000-04:00

Here is the link to Ryan's pics from Turner first baseball game!!

Fun Long Weekend

2008-05-27T09:26:00.002-04:00

After a really stressful day last Thursday, I am happy that Ryan had taken off Friday for a super long weekend. Thursday Sadie went in for surgery and what the vets all thought was the issue was not the issue after all. She had a liver biopsy and she was spayed and now we are waiting for the results from the biopsy. Hopefully they will be coming in this week! We are hoping it is going to be good news too! I will keep everyone posted, so I am not going to go through all the options of what it could be. However they did the surgery late in the day and anyone who knows small dogs, knows that they have problems coming out of anesthesia if their temperature drops too low. Well, that is exactly what happened and I had to go and get the dog and take her to the Pet ER. She was there for 12 hours and a huge amount of money later we now have her home. (I got her at 6:30 am on Friday!!)

Also on Thursday, Ryan had to have all the brakes replaced in the Element because he was not thinking and ran them all to basically nothing! So add that bill to the one for the dog and I was clearly and little frustrated with him. I would not have been upset if he would have had them checked all along and they needed to be replaced, but of course he did not and he just figured the AWFUL noise his car was making would go away! I took care of it, and now his car is drivable again!

After getting the dog on Friday morning, we had to take the kids to have blood drawn for their lead tests. The was uneventful, even though they did not like it! They were really good and we were really proud of them. Ryan held them, and after Reese was done she gave him the evil stare down for about an hour! It was hilarious! He kept telling her she was bothering him by doing that, but she was really not happy with him!

Friday night we had Haley, Carl, Chrissy and Brian over for some Wii time and some wine! It was a lot of fun! I look forward to doing it again soon!

Saturday was Jeffrey's 3rd Birthday party. The kids had a good time. Ryan stayed with them. I had baby Ryan too and so I brought him home and Haley and the girls came over and we cooked out. Baby Ryan was tired that he fell asleep while eating dinner! It was a lot of fun, and the kids are still talking about Jeffrey's party!

Sunday we went up to my in laws and cooked out! It was so pretty out and the kids had a blast! We let them run out a lot of their energy and of course they loved seeing their Grammy and Pop!!

Yesterday was the best day of the whole weekend! Ryan, his dad and Turner all went to the Yankee Oriole game for Father's day! They had a blast! Reese, Grammy and I went to the Baltimore Aquarium and then to lunch to the Cheesecake Factory! Reese loved the fish and the frogs at the aquarium! I think a membership may be in our future! Everything is so geared towards the kids! I can't wait to take both kids again soon! She loved the dolphin show too! The Cheesecake factory had amazing food and I loved hanging out with my mil! She is awesome and we are really close! We are looking forward to doing more boy/girl days in the future!

I have pics from this weekend, but I just need to get them off of everyones cameras! I will post them hopefully in the next day or two!

Awesome Weekend

2008-05-20T12:43:00.002-04:00

This past weekend was great! Friday night Ryan had the graduation for the Lockheed class the year above him. He said it went well and now all the planning for it and him being crazy all the time is OVER! Well, the planning is over, but him being crazy may never end!!

Saturday we ran errands in the morning with the kiddos. Then Ry cut the grass while they napped, and at 3 his mom came by to get the kids! We cooked out with our neighbors, Marge and Dave! It was a really yummy dinner and then we had game night where we all got more than a little intoxicated! It is midnight and Ryan is requesting more shots!! It was a lot of fun, and needless to say one of the 4 of us did not make it up before 6pm on Sunday... Marge!

Sunday Ry and I woke up a little after 10 and got ready to meet Haley and Carl at the light rail. We all went to the Orioles game, which started with a 2 hour rain delay and us drinking at Sliders! There was beer, Carl disappearing on the phone, the 50 year old grinder, more beer, tiny bathrooms, more beer, lots of laughing, more beer and then a short little walk to the game! Once that the game we found "our seats" and got nachos and had a great time, especially when the second rain delay happened and we found even better seats! I am looking forward to our next game and trying out our new game out!

Friendships

2008-05-15T14:57:00.002-04:00

So I have been thinking a lot lately about how lucky I am to have some of the friends that I have. I have been so blessed in the friend department. I have some amazing friends from my past! My best friend from childhood is really happy and living in Baltimore with her girlfriend. She is awesome and I love all the time that we spend together! I look forward to the cookouts this summer ;)
I still talk to my best friend from high school, who is pregnant with her 3rd! She is living with her hubby who is in the Army! They have beautiful children and I am so happy that they are still such a lovely couple! Being in their wedding it is awesome to see them taking life by the reins and really thriving!! I still continue to wish them all the best!!
Then there are my good friends from Gettysburg who made me some of who I am today! Rachel is an amazing friend who has really impacted my life in a positive way. There are times that I feel we are in completely different places in life, yet we are still close. I love her to pieces and I am so happy that she an Matt are happy in love! I hope that through time we are able to keep our friendship close!
Homie is also one of my closest friends from the burg and we are still close too! I love her, she makes me laugh and smile all the time! She has a beautiful little boy and another little one on the way! I know that she is always there and I look am happy to be her friend:)
Greeny is another friend from gburg and even though we were roommates, we have really become closer since leaving! She and her amazing hubby are expecting their first son in July! YAY! I am so happy we have become closer and I know I can talk to her about anything! She is truly and amazing person, and I know she is going to be an amazing mom!
Then there are all the friends who I see regularly and I can't imagine my life without! My mommy group friends are amazing! I have been part of the mom's group since Turner was born and all my friends have little ones around Turner's age and then again around Reese's! I run so much by these women. I don't think I would be nearly as good of a mother as I am today without these women! Each one of them brings something to the group and I love that we are all different! It is awesome to be part of such an amazing group of friends!
My neighbors are incredible! Tracey across the street is so fun and makes me laugh all the time! I used to watch her son Jeffrey on a regular basis while she was teaching, but now that she is home with her second, Cooper, we see them for playtimes! I am thankful for her keeping me sane sometimes! My next door neighbor, Marge and her husband Dave, adopted a little boy from Korea last year! Ryan is 2 months younger than Reese and thinks that Turner is awesome (they are in trouble)! We love having dinner and adult nights with them! They have all welcomed us to the neighborhood so nicely! It is like extended family!
Last, but certainly not least, Haley has become a close friend who I respect as a parent, admire as a professional, and enjoy as a friend! I run so much by her and she always listens and gives good advice. She has really become a good friend, who is in a very similar stage of life as we are. I enjoy spending time with the girls while they are here and Carl is a riot! We are looking forward to having a lot more fun with them (especially with girls nights)!
Sorry about the long post, I just needed to voice how I have been feeling so blessed, and even though I know that some of the friendships are changing and we may not be as close as we once were, I really so appreciate these people in my life. They make me a better person, and in turn a better mom and wife;) Thank you!!

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T20:00:00.002-04:00

I wanted to wish all the wonderful Mother's I know a very Happy Mother's Day! Without the support of all the amazing Mom's that I have around me on a regular basis, I know I would not be a good mom! I hope that all Mom's had a great, yet very hard earned, Mother's day :)

Taken from a friend

2008-05-07T10:10:00.003-04:00

A good friend of mine posted this article that is posted below and I loved it. I think that people need to worry about themselves and less about what others are doing, and this is included in the government. This story is amazing and it is because of people like this that our world is a better place!

Loving for All

By Mildred Loving*

Prepared for Delivery on June 12, 2007,
The 40th Anniversary of the Loving vs. Virginia Announcement

When my late husband, Richard, and I got married in Washington, DC in 1958, it wasn’t to make a political statement or start a fight. We were in love, and we wanted to be married.

We didn’t get married in Washington because we wanted to marry there. We did it there because the government wouldn’t allow us to marry back home in Virginia where we grew up, where we met, where we fell in love, and where we wanted to be together and build our family. You see, I am a woman of color and Richard was white, and at that time people believed it was okay to keep us from marrying because of their ideas of who should marry whom.

When Richard and I came back to our home in Virginia, happily married, we had no intention of battling over the law. We made a commitment to each other in our love and lives, and now had the legal commitment, called marriage, to match. Isn’t that what marriage is?

Not long after our wedding, we were awakened in the middle of the night in our own bedroom by deputy sheriffs and actually arrested for the “crime” of marrying the wrong kind of person. Our marriage certificate was hanging on the wall above the bed. The state prosecuted Richard and me, and after we were found guilty, the judge declared: “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.” He sentenced us to a year in prison, but offered to suspend the sentence if we left our home in Virginia for 25 years exile.

We left, and got a lawyer. Richard and I had to fight, but still were not fighting for a cause. We were fighting for our love.

Though it turned out we had to fight, happily Richard and I didn’t have to fight alone. Thanks to groups like the ACLU and the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, and so many good people around the country willing to speak up, we took our case for the freedom to marry all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And on June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that, “The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men,” a “basic civil right.”

My generation was bitterly divided over something that should have been so clear and right. The majority believed that what the judge said, that it was God’s plan to keep people apart, and that government should discriminate against people in love. But I have lived long enough now to see big changes. The older generation’s fears and prejudices have given way, and today’s young people realize that if someone loves someone they have a right to marry.

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the “wrong kind of person” for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.

Long time!

2008-04-28T21:17:00.002-04:00

Wow a week can seem like a long time! I feel like the last time I posted it was forever ago, but it really was only a week ago! Last Tuesday we took Sadie to the vet for further testing, and it came back that she has to have surgery. The ultrasound said that she does not have a shunt inside of her liver, but they could not find one outside, which does not mean that there is not one there. Her blood work came back really high in levels of something (vet talk) that means that she probably has a external liver shunt that they cannot see yet. All this means is that they are ordering a special part, bringing in a specialist, and going in to do an exploratory surgery, hopefully fixing the problem and spaying her at the same time! This is all going to happen the third week of May. She is gaining wait with the special food that she is on, so I hope that continues! We will let you know how it all turns out!

Turner is pretty much potty trained now. He has only had about 2-3 accidents in the past 2 weeks, which is amazing!!!! We are so proud of him! He is really doing a great job!! :)

Reese is beginning to talk a little bit more. I absolutely love getting to know her more and more everyday. She is so cute and has a really sweet sense of humor. The most amazing thing that I have been able to experience as a parent is seeing my two children play together and really love one another. They absolutely love one another, and even though they fight like siblings usually do, there love for one another shines right through. I am getting emotional because as a Mom, I could not ask for anything more!

Well, I am going to finish watching Dancing with the Stars and wait for Ry to get home from school! I will update again later this week with some pics, hopefully!

Emotional week

2008-04-20T16:14:00.003-04:00

We have had what I would call an extremely emotional week. First off, Turner has continued to do an amazing job at potty training, including telling us when he has to go even when we are in public. It has really been much easier to potty train him than I thought it was going to be. When he is in his big boy underwear, we have had no accidents. He wears a pull up to nap and bed, but other than that he is exclusively using the potty! For those of you non-parents that read my blog I am sorry if this is less than exciting for you, but for those of you parents you know what I am talking about! I cannot believe how amazing he has been this week! I am soooo proud of him! (This is what I would consider the exciting and emotional highs of the week!)

We took our 5 month old puppy, Sadie, and our chihuahua, Kaden, to the vet on Wed. for routine shots and such. Well Sadie is not gaining weight well at all, so the vet did some blood work on her. It turns out that they are pretty sure she has a liver shunt. That is that there is a shunt that forces blood to not enter the liver. All dogs have this before birth, but it goes away before they are born. Well it appears that Sadie's has not. If it an external shunt (one outside the liver), there is a surgery that they can do to remedy the problem. If it is inside the liver there is little that they can do and she probably will not make it. We have her on a low protein food right now that she is devouring. The liver is responsible for breaking down the protein in body, so since hers is not functioning it means that there are toxins poisoning her. Since she is getting a lot less protein, she is much more energetic, eating a lot more and being more like a puppy! We are hoping that this continues! She is going in for more blood tests and an ultrasound to try to figure out where the shunt is on Tuesday. We are really praying that this is all stuff that the vet is going to be able to fix! If anyone knows us, they know that our pets are our children and we love them unbelievably much! (this is the emotional low of the week)

Yesterday was such a beautiful day! We went to Home Depot and then to see Ryan's brother play baseball at Towson University (Jeff plays club ball for the university of MD). Then we had a nice dinner as a family. Today Ryan's mom was going to come over and we were going to have a girls movie afternoon, but she called last night to blow me off to go see another of Jeff's games today. So instead I hung out with Ryan. He got me Juno (one of my new fav movies!!) for being super mom and potty training the Turner! Linda had wanted to see it, and since I had such a crummy week I was really looking forward to seeing it again with her. Oh well, Marge is coming back from FL tonight! I bet she is going to be up for some girls movie night! (sorry if I seem in a crummy mood... I am kind of because of the long week!)

Great Day!!

2008-04-15T18:36:00.003-04:00

So after a not so successful weekend of trying to potty train, I decided we were going to try again today. The catch is that Haley and I decided to train all three of the kids together. I was a little concerned about how it was going to go, but it was GREAT!! Laney started out by going pee in the potty and Turner saw that she got a little treat and a sticker for her shirt and one for the chart. He looked right at me and says "Mommy Turner needs to go pee, then he gets a treat too". He walked over, sat down, went pee and was sooo excited! He got a treat and stickers too! YAY! The two of them did awesome all morning! They both went both in the potty, wore diapers to nap and both woke up dry and used the potty again! Alie had a few accidents this morning, but after naps she went poo in the potty! I could not have asked for a more successful start to this new adventure! Ryan keeps saying he thinks I am amazing, but I keep telling him its not me, all of our (both ambrose and klein)kids are the amazing ones! They have a little competition going now, who can go the most! I think they really like the treats!! (m-n-m's and stickers!!) Anyway, that is my great news for the day! I am soooo very proud of all of them! They are such great kiddos! :)

Not so well

2008-04-13T15:10:00.002-04:00

So its not going well... we are reevaluating our plan! We know he is ready, it is just hard to listen to him beg to not have to go... :(

Day 1

2008-04-12T09:51:00.001-04:00

So it is Day 1 of potty training. Turner has been showing a lot of the signs that he is ready, so we are diving in! Wish us luck!

Long last week!

2008-04-06T15:59:00.002-04:00

After we got home from the beach last week we started off to a good start to the week. Then on Wednesday when I got Reese up from her nap it all disappeared. She had thrown up all over the room! Then it continued every 20 minutes until 11pm. An hour after Reese got up, Turner was up throwing up too! We got through the night with both kids getting sick until 11, and then up every hour wanting something to drink. They were recovering on Thursday and then I got it! So by the time Friday came we were all three recovering. Saturday we had a good day. The Klein family came over and we had a cook out. It was a lot of fun! Then at 11:30 that night Ryan started with the stomach bug (don't worry... the Klein's gave it to us!!). So today I have been taking care of the kids and Ryan is relaxing! It is not fun to all get the bug in 4 days! AHHH... We are hoping tomorrow starts a good week for us!

This weekend and the party

2008-04-01T10:07:00.004-04:00

Last Friday we had a spring/ Easter party at my house for Mom's group. Even though we were completely overrun by kids, it was still a lot of fun! Most of the big kids have been together since they were only a few weeks old! Now look at how we have grown in size and numbers!

The older kids!

All the kiddos!

After the party, Ky and Maddie stayed for a few minutes and Turner and Maddie played! They are really funny together and always have sooo much fun!

Turner and Maddie!

We left for the beach after the party, and spent a really fun weekend with my grandparents! We really need to go more often to see them because my kids adore their Mom Mom and Pop Pop! Here are some pics of them together! We did a lot of playing around the house and snuggling with the great grandparents! (it is sooo fun the kids love them sooo much!)

Mom Mom reading!
Take 2!
They are sooo cute together!

To make the beach even more fun, my grandparents got kittens about a month ago because one of their 20 year old cats died. The kids loved the kittens!

Laurie (tortie) and Hardy (b & w)

The kids tuckered Hardy out!

Thanking God for his Cat nap! hehe!

Not our month

2008-03-26T12:07:00.002-04:00

So if you know me you know that I am super clumsy! We have a parking pad in the back of our house where we can park both of our cars. On either side of the concrete there are wooden pieces that are somewhat curved. I trip over these pieces all the time while putting the kids in the car. It was no different on Monday as I was rushing to get the kids in the car to get Turner to the pediatrician so we could have his lip looked at. I turned around to walk back around the van and rolled my foot on this curved piece. I tried to catch myself, which just made it worse and after walking on my curved foot for a few steps and twisting my knee I landed square on the knee and tore my favorite pair of jeans. I rolled over on my back and realized that I was in the middle of the alley and my stay at home father neighbor had witnessed the whole thing. He asked if I was ok, and I mustered up a thumbs up and wobbled to the car. I have a black and blue ankle and knee and they are both really swollen. I have a lot of shooting pain up my foot, but I got an xray done and nothing is broken. I definitely have a lot of pulled muscles, and in a week or so if they are still bothering me I have to see a specialist because I may have torn something... fun fun! Needless to say March is not my month, between the vertigo and now a sprained ankle and knee! I am hoping April goes better for us!

Happy Easter

2008-03-23T09:30:00.005-04:00

Happy Easter everyone! Aunt Rachel came to visit on Thursday evening! She stayed the night and the kids LOVED seeing her! They adore their Aunt Rachel!

Turner and Aunt Rachel reading.

It has been a great Easter for the kiddos, and they are getting more from the grandparents than they will ever need. Friday we went up to Ryan's parents house for dinner and Grammy and Pop gave each kid and easter basket with a chocolate bunny, coloring books, reading books, bracelets for Reese and Toy Story 1 & 2 for them. We all had a good time playing and enjoyed seeing Ryan's grandmother too!

Yesterday we dyed Easter eggs with Haley, Alie and Laney! It was sooo much fun and went a lot better than I thought it was going to! At the end Turner spilled some of the orange dye, but other than that it ended up being really fun and pretty mess free! And now we have some really pretty eggs!

Reese and Mommy

Turner Dying Eggs

Haley and her Girls!

Laney waiting for the egg to finish!

Alie ready to get hers out!

Ambrose Eggs!

While we were eating lunch afterwards, my mom called and said they were running an errand and then wanted to come over for a little bit. They asked if we minded going in the basement for a few minutes while the set something up. After and hour we were allowed to come us and built in the middle of our living room was a John Deere Gator for Turner and Reese to drive! Talk about a shock! They loved it! They rode around our alley in the back for a while! It is really cool. Thanks Grandma T and PJ!Reese in the drivers seat

Turner's turn!
(I thought we had another 13 years before this!!)

Take me for a ride Reese!

This morning we woke up and the Easter bunny came a brought Turner a monster truck (El toro loco) that he has been asking for ever since he started getting into Monster Jam. Reese got a baby stroller and they both got baskets full of fun stuff! Our kids really are spoiled! We are going to be going to Ryan's other grandparents for lunch today! It should be fun!Too Cute!

Pushing her new doll stroller

Turner and his Trucks!

Here are some cute pics of the kids from the other day! They were being really goofy! Both of my kids love being in boxes!

Silly Reese!

Turner has a hair clip on his head!

Great Weekend

2008-03-17T19:14:00.003-04:00

We had a great weekend. The weather on Saturday was great, like upper 50's and sunny, so we took the kids to the big park over off of Falls Rd. They played for a while with their friend Maddy, and had a blast. Then we went to Wegmans and came home to have the kids nap. While they were napping we cleaned off the whole back porch and it all looks so nice now. We are really making progress on getting rid of stuff we don't use, whether donating it or if it is really of no use to anyone, trashing it! I can't wait to finish tackling the basement!

Sunday we went to church and then visited with Ryan's family. I had such a good time visiting with his mom and grandmother. It is so funny to see how different generations interact. Then after dinner we took a long walk with the kids to Walmart because we had completely run out of shampoo! We are enjoying taking walks and being outside together! I can't wait until the weather is warm for good (not hot, just warm!)!

Today I took the kids to mommy's group and we had a great time. I am so lucky to have such a great group of friends/fellow mom's that I can talk with and really stay connected! I don't know what I would do without them sometimes, they really keep me sane!

Tonight we had Jeffrey over for a while when Tracey went to feed Cooper in the NICU. It was like reuniting long lost brothers. They loved being together again, and I really enjoyed having Jeffrey over to play in the afternoon this time. He is coming back over in the morning, but not until 8:30, and Turner is already talking about it! They are really funny together and really do play well! I am glad we are able to help out with watching Jeffrey for Tracey!

Spring

2008-03-14T14:40:00.002-04:00

I am excited that the weather is getting warmer and that I can take the kids out more. Yesterday I just had my two kids and we took a long walk to Petsmart to see all the animals. We took the wagon and Turner walked most of the way there. It was really fun and we all enjoyed it. I think that we are going to have so much fun playing outside and taking walks! It is even more fun this year because Reese is old enough to run around and I know that she is going to love going to the playground. Now that I do not have Jeffrey so early in the morning (I am soooo not a morning person), Ryan has been getting up early and getting to work by 7am so he can be home by 3:30 and there is plenty of daylight left for us to go out! Haley and Carl are really cool about letting me take the girls out and get fresh air, and so we will be doing a lot of outdoor activities when they are here too! I am really, really excited about the spring if you cannot tell!

American Idol

2008-03-12T08:45:00.002-04:00

So in the midst of the writers strike there was nothing to watch and we got addicted to American Idol again! The last time we actually watched was when Carrie Underwood won. Everyone I know is a huge David Archuleta fan, but I honestly have to say I am not. I think the kid has an amazing voice and has the potential to be something big when he matures. But last night he was awful! He completely botched the song up and forgot the lyrics! Ahhhh.... I think that he is probably going to move on because of all the people who vote on people not performances, and I just pray he does better next week!

I do have one contestant that I love though! I love Brooke White. I think the fact that she is so real and vulnerable and puts all the cards on the table is amazing because you don't see that much. She is also an amazing performer and has a great voice. I love that she incorporates instruments into her performances too. I liked a few others too last night, but these were my polar opposites!

Exciting afternoon

2008-03-11T16:00:00.002-04:00

So I looked everywhere today for the masking tape to tape the girls diapers up before their naps. I could not find it anywhere, so I used some scotch tape and a whole lot of prayers in hope that the Klein girls would wake up with diapers still on. Needless to say the girls did not sleep at all during nap time, and talked a lot. I called down several times telling them they needed to go to sleep. When we got them a little before 3, they used their poop to do art all over the pack and plays and themselves. Ryan did all the physical cleanup in the basement and I did kiddie cleanup in the tub with a lot of talking about how we do not take our diapers off during naps! Needless to say, I am going to be investing in some major masking tape!

Here are some really cute pictures of Turner and Ryan at monster trucks recently. The only thing we hear about is these trucks, but as you can see a good time was had by all!

Book club

2008-03-11T13:54:00.002-04:00

Last night we had book club at Chrissy's apartment, which is coincidentally is the apartment above the one that Ryan and I lived in for 2 years. It was weird being in the building, but I don't miss it at all! The book that we read was called The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell. It was a quick read with a lot of twists! I would recommend it to people who love to read! The best part about book club is the company though. I never really hung out or knew Haley, Chrissy or Wendy that well while we were sorority sisters at Gettysburg, but getting to know them has been really fun and easy. I look forward to many months of fun talks and get togethers! We are going to miss Wendy though as she is getting ready to move back to NC with Greg to their new home! We missed Becky last night, and I hope that her foot heals soon. I am really excited thought that book club has seem to taken this time and the books that we are reading are all really fun and interesting with a lot to talk about. This month we are going to read Pope Joan by Donna Cross. The author will actually call in and talk to your book club if you want! Thanks Jodi for the recommend! I will let everyone know how it goes!

In other exciting news, I don't have Jeffrey any more because Tracey gave birth to Cooper last night. He is 4 weeks early, but mom and baby seem to be doing well. He was over 7 pounds already! I am looking forward to meeting him soon! Congrats Tracey and Jeff!!

March

2008-03-08T16:24:00.002-05:00

So today is the perfect March day. I woke up to it being foggy for the morning and early afternoon. Then the rain came and the fog left. Once the rain passed through the sun arrived for a little over an hour leaving way for more rain arriving sideways! I have always hated the dreaded March, however that is quickly changing. I feel that March is mimicking the way life works. There will always be sun and rain, however when one is done it leaves way for the other. It is also nice to be inside watching the rain fall with all the ones that I love the most! So here is to the perfection of this March day!

Project Runway

2008-03-05T23:17:00.003-05:00

So I am a HUGE Project Runway fan after Rachel got me into it! I was sooo excited for tonight's finale and I was not disappointed! All I can say is:

CHRISTIAN IS FIERCE!!!!

(that is his catchphrase in the show!)

I loved Jillian's stuff too. She did amazing knit pieces and I really loved her style. I think she would have won if she would have been able to capture herself more. I think that it takes a lifetime to do that sometimes and she will! She was truly incredible to watch this season, even if she is sooo INDECISIVE!!

As for Rami, I was not a fan. Yeah he has incredible skills, but I really thought it was boring after awhile. It is just not my style, but that is okay! He will definitely go far!

On a side note, if you are addicted to ANTM like I am too, weren't the makeovers really good tonight! I really loved them and I loved who they sent home! She did not know everything... she just reminded me sooo much of Jade from previous seasons.

No news is defintely not good news...

2008-03-03T18:18:00.003-05:00

So after seeing the ENT today they have no info on why I am feeling so lousy. My ears are clear and my hearing is good and everything on the surface looks great. So now I have to go in for an hour and half balance test at the end of the month and to get an MRI. This basically stinks because right now I don't even care why I feel so lousy, I just want to feel better and get my life back. I can't drive or do anything alone and I am going crazy! They gave me a new medication which I hope helps! If not it is going to be a long.... month! (and that is saying they find out what is wrong) I am just feeling like I am losing my mind! I am frustrated and going crazy! So in most cases, "No news is good news".... but definitely not in this case!

In other news, both kids were sick all weekend too. Reese woke up today with pink eye! I hope we all don't get it!

Reese is going to be 15 months old tomorrow. When Turner was 15 months, I was 8 months pregnant with Reese! I don't remember much about him being 15 months, but I do remember loving this age with him! They are soooo fun when they are one and learning all about they world around them. Turner and Reese really love one another and out of everything I am teaching them I am most proud of that!

forgot

2008-03-01T18:55:00.002-05:00

Oh yeah, the doctor does not know what is wrong... so I am seeing an ENT on Monday and depending on what he says I may have to see a neurologist. To the primary care physician, he could not see anything in my ears or anything out of the ordinary to cause this.... i am just praying it goes AWAY!!!!!

Arghhhh...

2008-03-01T18:48:00.002-05:00

So i am having a bad week of having vertigo. I have been feeling this way for a while now, and it has gotten so much worse this past week. I can not even stand for any length of time with out feeling like I am going to fall over. The room is always spinning, I can't read, typing takes me forever and most of all I can not care for my kids right. I am miserable. The doctor gave me medication that is not working, and I feel so depressed. I miss being a good mom and being with my kids and taking care of them. I miss being able to drive and walk straight. I feel stripped of my independence and for an educated, quick thinking person, I am slow and pretty defeated in thoughts and feelings. Turner is not feeling well either and I can't get out of my fog enough to take care of him now. Ryan has been amazing; I don't know what we would do without him. Sorry for the vent... it is pretty much sucky here right now.

Girls Day!

2008-02-24T12:11:00.002-05:00

Reese is doing really well recovering from surgery. She has no limitations, and her activity level and all is back to normal. She is still having some blood in her nose, which we think is normal and should clear up soon! We are really sticking close to her and appreciate all the moments we have with our kids!

Yesterday Ryan and his Dad took Turner to see Monster Jam at the Baltimore Arena. They had the best time, and when I get photos I will post them! While they were out doing Boy stuff, us girls (Reese, Grammy, Marge and I) and baby Ryan went shopping at the outlets in Lancaster. My kids needed clothes for this spring and summer, since I had nothing yet for them. We got a complete wardrobe for Reese for the warm weather and most of Turner's for less than 250 dollars! I got a ton of stuff. I can't even believe how amazing the Carter's outlet is up there and there is no tax!! I am really happy with everything and I really enjoyed having a girls day! I look forward to doing it again in the near future! Now all I need to get is Turner some more shorts for the summer and a couple more tee shirts. We figured out when I got home that Turner will be potty training and we are going to need some more shorts because of that! After a fun filled day together shopping we met up with the boys and had dinner and cake for my birthday. It was all yummy and we had a great day! Today we are spending a fun day together as a family! We hope everyone is having a good weekend too.

Thank You

2008-02-22T15:58:00.002-05:00

Thank you to everyone who was worried with us and so supportive through Reese's surgery today. She came through with flying colors. She was such a brave girl and did not cry at all! I think it was harder on Daddy and I. I have to say it was that hardest thing I ever had to do holding my baby as she was put under anesthesia and her body completely going limp and then laying her on the operating table. I kept it together, but I will always remember the feeling of leaving her in the very good hands of the doctor and feeling so awful. I know that we did the best thing for her and she did so well and less than an hour later she was in our arms again. She impresses me so much. After recovery and she was released we were able to get her meds and we got her a happy meal from McDonald's (which she completely scarfed down!). When we got home, and after she ate lunch, she just played for a couple hours and now our very tired, brave girl is taking a nap! Thank you to Mom and Dad who are taking such good care of our little man today! It has been nice to not have to worry about him and knowing he is being completely spoiled and loved! Thank you again for all of the support we got for Reese!

Prayers

2008-02-21T20:53:00.002-05:00

So tomorrow Reese is going in for surgery to have her clogged tear ducts probed and irrigated. The doctor is great and I know that she is going to be fine. The one down side is that they are going to put Reese under anesthesia to do this. Please keep our little baby girl in your prayers tomorrow! Even though we know that she is going to be very well watched over by God tomorrow, as she is everyday, we are still just human parents who are worried! I will update when it is all over! Thank you in advance, to everyone who loves and cares for our family so much!

Cute

2008-02-19T12:49:00.004-05:00

This morning Ryan brought all the kiddos into wake me up for my birthday! They all came up and wished me a happy birthday and then Sadie nuzzled up to me with a big bow on her back and a letter saying I am going to get a little bag for her (yup I am one of those people... hehe)! It was the cutest thing ever! I love my little family, and our new puppy is sooo cute! I love them all!

A little while later, while I was watching all the kiddos my Mom surprises me and stops by with balloons and German chocolate cupcakes and a card for me! She also brought all the kiddos a cupcake of their very own! It was really sweet of her and I love the surprise! (she also got to see out little Sadie for the first time!)

I am also very excited about the new season of Dancing with the Stars! Ryan can't wait to see Adam Carolla and Penn in those dancing shoes! It should be a lot of fun!

Here are some photos I took the other day of the kids and Sadie!

Reese being cute and smiley!

Hi Mom!

My little Sadie!!

Our attempt at getting all 3 to sit together

Sadie and Ridgley

Turner being himself!

Preschool

2008-02-15T11:56:00.002-05:00

We decided that we are going to put Turner in preschool next year. He was wait listed for several schools and got into Ashland for the 2 day a week program. We are very happy with that and loved the school when we visited. There are programs all the way up to Kindergarten, and a lot of options as he grows. We thought that we had it all planned out, until today when another one of our top choices (St. Paul's Lutheran) called and he got into one of the 3 day programs there. So now we need to decide what is going to be the best for Turner. He loves Sunday school and absolutely loves to show us what he learned. As I pass the classroom on Sunday mornings, he is sitting on the rug listening and contributing sooo well. I know that he is going to love school! Am I not jumping on the 3 day a week program because I want him with me, or is it because I think the 2 day a week is better for him? I really want to do what he is going to love and thrive from. I know in the grand scheme of things this decision is not that big of a deal, but being a parent really makes you evaluate all the time what is best for your children and family. How much I have changed in the past 3 years since I have had Turner!

Minor Rant and Fun night!

2008-02-11T23:09:00.000-05:00

I am going to start by saying I had a great night tonight with the girls from book club! We read the book Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult. We had book club last week to talk about it and then I found the movie on TV one day and tivoed it so that everyone could come and have dinner and watch the movie. Well the movie was pretty awful. I think that we all really liked the book, and when you try to put a page turning mystery/suspense type book into a 2 hour movie with commercial you are asking for trouble. The characters were lacking in some physical ways. They are not what we had pictured in our minds. The lead, Ellie was well casted, but other than that it kind of went down hill. Anyway, we had a great time chatting hanging out until 10:40! Becky and I were roommates in college and I adore her anyway, so it is always nice to catch up. Haley, Wendy and Chrissy were a year ahead of us at Gettysburg, but we were all in the same sorority and knew one another. Now I am becoming pretty close with Haley, and it is nice to be able to get to know Chrissy and Wendy even better! I look forward to many fun nights of wine and chatting in the future (with or without the book!) Thanks for coming over girls! I had a blast!

Now for my rant! I am really put out by all the positive attention that Amy Winehouse has been getting. She is somewhat talented I guess, but I hate that people in the entertainment business are held at a different standard than most others. It is no surprise that she is a drug addict, everyone knows it.... and yet she is honored several times at the Grammy's this past weekend. I am not sure if it is because my father was a drug addict and I grew up knowing that it is not what the celebrities make it out to be... spa retreats to get well and such. It is a really ugly and crippling disease that people choose to get into to begin with. It is not like a terminal illness that would surprise someone, but it is something that these people choose to experiment with and then get hooked. I guess the other reason I am really put off by celebrities with problems being in the lime light all of the time is because I have two young and impressionable children who I do not want looking up to a celebrity who is abusing drugs. This includes athletes too! I am going to tell my kids about their grandfather one day and why he is not part of our lives, and I don't want them thinking that drugs are accepted in any way, shape or form! When is the entertainment industry going to see that we should not be rewarding people for things they may not be ready for or deserve. I was pleasantly surprised to come across this article tonight though:

"Natalie Cole: Amy's Wins Send a Bad Message"

It is basically saying that Natalie Cole does not believe that Amy deserves what she received yet. She said that she does have talent, but that this girl needs help. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and I know I have blogged about some similar things in the past. I just would really like my kids to be able to look at celebrities as people, and not idolize ones that have such horrible issues. I guess that is Ryan and my job to teach them the difference between right and wrong and show them there are people in this world to look up to.

Weekend!

2008-02-09T11:23:00.000-05:00

I am sooo excited it is the weekend! I always get like this when we have long weeks. We have nothing really planned other than going to church on Sunday. I think we are going to go to dinner at Ryan parents house tonight because Ryan's dad does not have to work this weekend, which has become somewhat of a rarity. I know the kids are going to enjoy spending time with them. Our main goal for the weekend is some quality family time. I love my little family! My son is a handful that we adore, and Reese just lights up my life (even though she is drama central)!

In a couple weeks Ryan and Pop are going to take Turner to see Monster Truck Jam at the Baltimore arena. I know that Turner is going to love it. He is absolutely obsessed with monster trucks! He loves to watch them bam and crash and all the things that little boys love! I am not such a fan when he is doing it around our home, but the same rules apply to monster trucks that apply to all the other things in the house, so they end up in time out quite a bit! Our neighbor took his son to the Monster Jam and he said the noise was not an issue, but it smelled pretty bad... which is why I will not be going! I think that Grammy and I are going to do something fun and girly with Reese! Maybe we will go shopping or something. This is part of what is so much fun about having one of each! We get to enjoy what each of them enjoys!

I will post new pics later on this weekend of the puppy and kiddos! I hope everyone has a great weekend!