My Weekend Review!

Well hello there. First of all, to all who left me encouragement yesterday, THANK YOU! Stupid satan is like a virus and he made me sick yesterday - but today, I am better. I think I need a little more meds to knock the satan virus, but I feel a ton better. I want to say that I know my friends love me for me and are not my friends out of obligation - and I love them too, so very much! :)

Moving on...

This past weekend was BUSY! Thursday, my in laws got in town and we were able to relax and eat some KFC and just chill!

Friday was busy - we got up and headed to the zoo. It was so fun and cool, which was nice! We took a lot of pictures (all are still on the camera - as I am bad a dumping it!) I even got some fun pictures of the tigers. If you know anything about the Columbus Zoo, you know that the tiger exhibit has a big glass wall so when the tigers walk by, it's like you can touch them. Tigers are so beautiful! Parker liked watching them and touching the goats and watching the geese! We packed a lunch and enjoyed that. I yelled at two kids throwing rocks at a goose - no parents in site, so I said something! I can't stand when parents don't control their kids. Ugh - Parker helped me feed the lorikeets - he loved it!

After the zoo we came home and slept. We were all very very tired! After the nap we headed out to Marcella's up near Polaris. Friday was my mother in laws birthday, so we took her there. I got my gnocchi Bolognese (gnocchi with lamb basically!). After we got some cheesecake at the cheesecake factory, came home and played games. I kicked everyone's booty in Life - oh yah, I started as an artist with 10,000 to my name and 60,000 in loans. I ended with 1.5 million as a doctor. Too bad it's not real life! :) I think my favorite thing was my father in law - he didn't go to college, became an athlete, was beating us all in money, had a mobile home and then had a midlife crisis and lost most his money! Oh Pete, you make me smile :) We watched Red, White and Boom on TV.

Saturday was so much fun. We met Tabatha and Logan down in Hilliard for the Hilliard 4th of July Parade. it was a fun parade. The boys seemed to like it a lot and it was fun to feel like a big family with Tabatha and Logan, because honestly, they may as well be our family! The parade was long and fun and I got to pet a beautiful dog! By the end though, Parker and Logan were tuckered out, so we headed home and rested, Drew and his dad went and saw transformers and mom and I stayed home. I made a flag cake and watched Clean House (I am not addicted to the show!) I made Ham and Cheese Veggie Lasagna and we had fun just staying in that night.

Sunday - oh sunday. I was in charge of Kids Ministry. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Church was good, the whole 20 minutes I was actually in service that is, and I think for the most part, Kid's stuff went well. Both Amber and Cindy (the director and sunday manager) were gone. Being that I used to be heavily involved, I stepped in. It was hard because our normal classrooms were blocked off because of resurfacing, so we ended up scattered around. I had to make some executive decisions and make sure it was all going ok. I certainly am glad I don't do it all the time, but I did my best!

After church, we went out to eat with Mom and Dad and they headed back to Buffalo, we came home and did nothing all day!

Tomorrow - some pictures!

A Big 'Ol Update

Hello Friends,

I feel like I have not been around much to update this blog. I apologize, things have been a little crazy in my life recently! But I am happy to report that today, I have an update for all of you - and a good one at that!

PARKER

The Critter is doing awesome! He is a little ball of energy that keeps us very busy now-a-days. He is 9 months old now. Just typing that is strange. I can not believe he is just 3 months away from being a year old. It was just about this time last year that I felt my first flutter and now, that little flutter is a beautiful baby boy. He is almost able to sit up on his own now. He does do it, but not for long - maybe a minute or two. He is rolling all over the place, scooting on the floor a little too. He is doing so well! He is such a good boy.

THIS PAST WEEKEND!

This past weekend was a great one - although it has left my insanely tired. My hubby had a 5 day weekend and so we got to enjoy lot of time together. Friday, as you all know, I got my hair chopped off and I do still love it. Yesterday, though I was ready to shave my head, the stupid wind made my hair be more poofy than normal, but I think, even with this hair cut, it looked fine! I did also burn my neck on the curling iron! Ow!

Saturday was a long day. It started with choir practice at 9 am. We are going to be singing some AWESOME songs this Easter! I love them! They are fun and so worthy of goosebumps. I had a hard time making it through practice, just because I was tired and I don't do so well being up early in the morning - and add in having to sing...yah, not a pretty picture!

After practice I headed over to Panera and got myself prepared for a meet up with some fellow bloggers from the area. I tell you what, these ladies where lovely and gave me some amazing insight into blogging and taking it to another level. I was able to meet 5 other blogging moms.
- Ali from Blessed Treehouse was one of them, I know her in real life though, we go to church together, were in a small group together and are good friends. But of course, I have to include her...because well, like the other women, she is incredible!
- Sandy from Organize with Sandy. She can come organize my horribly unorganized home anytime :)
- Lacie from Peanut Butter and Pickle Reviews. She as well as the others helped me learn a lot about making blogging more than just updates.
- Ellen from Thrifty and Chic Mom. She introduced me to the world of couponing - which I intend to start. She also gave me great insight into other things related to blogging as well.
- And finally Christina from A Mommy Story. Another lovely women, who sadly I didn't get a lot of time to know, but the talking we did do, was fun!
It was great to connect with other women who have been doing this longer or have made it a bigger part of their life. I want to learn more and not only have this blog, but another one.

Saturday evening, Drew and I were able to go over to our friend's the B's house and have a fun night of games with them and their kiddos. We were introduced to the world of Sorry Sliders and Uno Flash! Talk about fun! We love this family and are so thankful for their friendship. They are even going to be praying over us when we dedicate Parker at church (May 10, 10:30am if you want to come!)

Sunday, yesterday, was another long day! We went to church, I didn't get to be in the actual service, I was in the nursery, but we started the 40 days before Easter stuff. I heard the sermon was great - I do know the set up was awesome...I will have to post a picture of our stage, but to give you an idea...a cross, a HUGE chain link fence in front of it and "stuff" blocking the way. It looked great! And my stroller, blanket and christmas tree were used. The creative team at our church is AWESOME! After church was a membership meeting which we went to. I think we were techinally already members (we've been with VIsta since day 1) but they were basically putting it in writing now, because have grown so much in two years! It was a good meeting.

After church we dropped Parker off at Mandi's and she watched him while Drew and I went to a movie - "He's just not that into you." Really good movie, really really good!

THE OTHER BLOG

I mentioned this some on Sat. But I am hoping, planning, thinking of, making another blog. I will keep this one of course and it will be my personal one, but I really want to do one where I can reach more people, where I can do giveaways, reviews, ect. Make it more of a specific blog (much like Ellen, which is mostly about saving money...or Lacie's which is all about reviewing). I am hoping to do one that reaches out to others who have a preemie, are going through the NICU experience, are going to go through it, went through it, brought home a preemie, ect. It's on my heart to reach out to parents who went through or who are going through what I went through. There are a lot of us out there and I want to make a place for them to come and feel like they aren't the only ones. That's really all I know. I don't want to be a huge giveaway or review site, though I certainly plan to do a little bit here and there. I just feel so stuck...I don't know how to bring it into fruition. So pray that I can really start to hunker down and figure it out. Also, if you have an idea of a name, let me know, because I am not sure what to name it either. I'd like it to be welcoming to all parents if possible, giving tips that we all can use (much like my recent discussions on mommy guilt!). I had the though of a name like "Small Miracles" but I am not at all set on it and I want the name to reflect that is more than that...I just feel stuck.

Along with this, I am planning to learn more about hosting ad's, affiliate programs, ect. My mind is a hot mess.

MOMMY GUILT ROUND UP!

I finished the book I was reading - "Motherhood, the Guilt that keeps on giving." I learned a lot and am thinking of (eventually) doing a giveaway of the book. Tomorrow, I plan to post on the things I learned and share some insight from the final chapters of the book. I tell you what, I have really learned what real vs. fake guilt looks like (although it can still be hard sometimes to not give into the fake guilt).

Check out the new book I am reading!

IN CLOSING

I want to say that I am so thankful for this blog, a place where I can share and learn and meet new people. It's great to have a community like this. You all are such a blessing to me, seriously! I am thankful for you! VERY VERY thankful! :)

Have a great day!

What A Christmas

Hello Friends!

I hope that all of you had a very Merry Christmas (or Hanukah, Kwanzaa...ect)! Ours has been very interesting. I have a ton of photos, but they are in need of being dumped off the camera! So those I will work on posting later (mostly on my facebook with a few of my favs on here!)

My favorite in-laws (well my only ones!) made it on Tuesday afternoon. We were able to just relax that night and they got some great time with Parker. Wed, mom (well Drew's mom) and I went out grocery shopping to get all we needed for dinner on Christmas. We spent about 2 hours at the grocery. I think the funniest part was when we were purchasing wine for the turkey! Well anyways, neither of us drink (I only like wine in food!) so we are standing there like uhhhhh....well I knew I needed white wine and I knew my friend used white Zin, so we found one and bought it. But it was funny, take the two most unlikely people and put us in the middle of the wines...and we are lost! We got home and spent the rest of the afternoon watching Hallmark movies! That evening we went to Vista's Christmas Eve Candlelight Service! It was amazing! On the way home, me, mom and Parker were in my car and Drew and dad were in his. Well, wouldn't you know, Drew's car decides to stop working....30 minutes later AAA was there to help them and I was on my way to pick them up. It wasn't how we had planned things, but thankfully his parents are here and willing to help out in any way necessary.

Christmas morning we woke up and opened Parker's presents. He loved the paper...and actually got into tearing it off...it was so cute! He got some great gifts, books, toys, rattles, a couple of things for when he starts walking. Mommy needs to organize it all! I got some fun things too, I love the gift that Drew got me, a bunch of bath things and some warm fuzzy socks! I also really liked the shirts I got too! It was fun and Parker watch us all unwrap our gifts. I made our meal, turkey - I have never cleaned or prepped a turkey before so I wanted to take it on! Ok, how GROSS is it that you have to reach inside them and pull out the giblet packs? I felt like I was invading it's personal space and I know now that I could never be an OB/GYN!!! EWWW, but my turkey came out awesome...really tender, fall off the bone tender....mmmmmmm! We also made sweet potato pies, sugar cookies, stuffing, ect. It was a great meal. We also spent most of the day watching Hallmark movies. Can I just say I am horribly addicted to the movies!! Drew and I went out on a date to see Marley and Me....GREAT movie - the ending is so sad and I would agree with the people on good morning america that said if you have kids, take them out of the movie for the last 30 minutes! I basically cried that entire time, plus most of the way home.

Today is to be relaxed. I refuse to go out today as I am not in the mood for the busyness of the day after Christmas. Tonight is game night and tomorrow we plan to go out and do some shopping...spending some of our money and meeting Drew for lunch!

All in all, it's been a great Christmas! Hope yours was good too!

Back Home Again...In Indiana

3 words - WHAT A WEEKEND! 

As much as I enjoy seeing my family I am so glad to be back in the great state of Ohio, sitting in my living room, watching, or rather, listening to the Today show in my jammies while my cat snores on the chair and my baby sleeps in his bed. I love that I got to sleep in my own bed last night, that I get to eat my own food, that I get to be in my apartment. 

THURSDAY - 

Boy did we not plan to leave as late as we did. Drew ended up going out to breakfast with a church friend to discuss some things and I slept in some and tried to pack quickly. Drew got home, we packed the car (did I mention we brought Parker's swing and like every outfit he owns?) and headed towards Indiana. What a smooth ride it was, I sat in back with Parker, just in case we had a "paci down" situation, plus, there was a bit more room for me. Parker slept until we got to our first stop, half way between here and Warsaw. We fed Parker in the Arby's parking lot, he proceeded to puke down my shirt....(guess who forgot to pack extra shirts...I had just enough for the entire weekend!) We head off and get to Warsaw in record time. It was a good time. I had to deal with my grandma dumping on me (she like to vent!) and then got to eat at one of the many restaurants on my list: Hacienda! I had my favorite meal: Chicken and Spinach quesadilla (with sour cream and guacamole of course!) We then went home and just relaxed that evening!

FRIDAY - 

Slept in and got up and relaxed. Headed out to do some stuff in town. We got to take Parker to where Drew and I were married, tried to take some pictures, but realized we remembered the camera but left the batteries at grandma's in the charger! We went to Court House Coffee for a bit and talked about details regarding my transition into taking over the toddler room at church (which I want to give a name...maybe the fireflies, it kinda goes with Vista, no? Any suggestions welcome!) I got some good thinking done and not just have to really sit down and map out the curriculum I am working on writing. (I love doing this though, this is my element!) After that, I went to my sister's place of employment and showed off Parker! Next, off to Walmart (the coolest hang out spot in town!) and met my Grandma Bev there and she got to meet her great grandson for the first time. Drew and I got some things we needed and then headed over to my mom's house. She hasn't seen Parker since a week after he was born, so she got to love on him and we went to yet another fine eating establishment on my "must visit" list...American Table. I got my Gyro and Greek Salad meal! Then, on to home to hang out!

SATURDAY - 

Not too much going on. Stayed home most of the day, my dad came over with my brother and we had a game night. Played some Euchre, but warning, don't be my partner, I am terrible! And then had dinner, Chinese and played Cranium. It was so much fun, I love family game night. We headed to bed at 9, I was BEAT and enjoyed the extra hour of sleep! 

SUNDAY - 

We got up and headed to church at WCC, the church we went to before moving away. I miss that church. I do love my church here, seriously, I do, but I do miss WCC, that place just made my day, after growing up and going to the same church for many many years, WCC was what I needed in my life! We met my mom and her husband there and enjoyed an amazing service. We then headed to El Arerrio, my other favorite place to eat and I got my cheese enchilada's and bean burrito! After that, we got some snacks for the way home, headed to my Aunt's house so they could meet Parker! And home to Ohio we came...what a drive! Parker was incredibly fussy and I was tired and Drew was driving and I am just glad we got home in one piece.

So now here we are, back in Ohio where we are round on the ends and friendly in the middle ;) Today consists of unpacking, resting, and attempting to clean a bit.