Brayden's Mohawk

As promised:

Here's are pics of brayden's mohawk and alivia's pretend mohawk that daddy gave her in the bath!

Open House

My house was a crazy place this weekend. I can't complain though I love it. Friday night, I took Alivia to my mom's so that I could hang out at the bowling alley for a few hours. Saturday Rob was playing golf (this happens once a year!) Alivia and I hung out for awhile until the madness began. Amber and Bryan came over around 11. They are getting ready to move back in with us. Amber didn't care for the birdhouse decoration that was going on in the bedroom they would be living in so she took it upon herself to repaint it-whatever-one less thing I have to do! Amber and Bryan began painting so Alivia, Brayden and I were playing in the living room. That was going ok and then Jenny, Anthony and Jack came over. I was going to watch the boys for a little bit. So now Alivia, Brayden and Jack were all playing. They played really well together and took turns taking naps all afternoon. Anthony is such a great helper!!! We ordered pizza for lunch. Rob got home and I felt so bad for him. All he wanted to do was come home and watch football in peace and quiet!! We have three tvs in our house. Amber and Bryan had the basement a mess from painting, I was in the living room with the babies and there was a baby or two taking a nap in our room at most points of the day. At one point I went downstairs to check on what was going on down there and when I came up rob was yelling "Amy, there's babies crying all over the place" It was pretty hilarious!! We went to St. Charles and walked around that night at the mosaic fair-it was a beautiful night. On Sunday I had to work at the diner. My mom calls around 4 and says "Amber invited us over to look at the room" So we had a replay last night. My mom, dad, Ashley, Amber, Bryan and Brayden all came over last night. We hung out for awhile and Amber gave a bunch of hair cuts including Braydens (pictures of his new mohawk should be ready soon!) When Amber got to my house last night she says to my dad "Grab a piece of paper" He didn't so she continued "Bryan's car needs new shocks and a new battery and my car needs new brake pads" Later that night Ashley says "Amber can I have your old shocks" Me and my dad are thinking "She surely doesn't mean car shocks" She didn't, she was talking about nike shox shoes. We all had a good laugh about that. Tonight I guess I have to go grocery shopping because yesterday when I asked Rob if he was hungry he said "I have been hungry all day, we haven't had any food for two weeks" He exagerates a little.

End of the Fad Diet

Tuesday was the last day of my diet (which I haven't exactly been sticking to!) BUT, I went to the doctor this morning for my final evaluation and I lost another 2 pounds. The grand total of weight loss is 16 pounds. I would like to lose a little more but I think that's a good start. The main goal was to get to pre baby weight and I did that about 4 pounds ago so my goal was achieved!!

Random thoughts and comments....

Toys R US

Amber and I went to Toys R Us Monday night looking for halloween costumes for the babies. We didn't really find anything but I did find an outfit for Alivia and I needed batteries for a new toy that I bought her last weekend. So, we are checking out and AS THE GIRL SCANS MY BATTERIES she says "Do you need any batteries today?" I looked at her and I said "I think the batteries you just scanned should do just fine" This would have been a valid question if I had bought a toy or something that required batteries-but I didn't-I bought a onesie, jeans and the cutest velcro corduroy shoes ever for $2. Needless to say, she felt pretty stupid.

New Car

I accidentally put regular gas in my new car that is supposed to take premium gas. I remembered that I wasn't supposed to do that about 15 minutes after I did it-oops.

Rob's "New Job"

Rob is a "gamble-a-holic" from way back. He still hasn't found a job-it's been about 5 weeks now. He's been playing $30 poker tournaments at the boat during the day. ( Because this is what you should be doing when you don't have a job?!?!) Anyway, yesterday he won first place and it paid $700. Last weekend he was betting on football and won $1,300. He is calling this his "job" now. And the scary part is that he is serious. If a job doesn't offer a 401 K or a weekly paycheck where taxes are taken out then IT'S NOT A JOB!!!!!!!!!!! Lord help me......

Husband in Training

I dred holidays, birthday's and occasions with Rob. He is the type of guy that waits until the VERY last minute to buy a gift for an occasion. The gift is NEVER wrapped and always has very little thought behind it. I am such the opposite of that so usually I am very dissapointed when/if I get a gift from Rob. Yesterday was our 2nd wedding anniversary. After 7 years of this I try not to get too excited when something comes up that warrants a gift. The other thing is that if he does get a gift he tries to make me think that he didn't get me anything until I am at the point of tears and then he brings out the gift-not sure why this is so amusing. So yesterday I get home and I hand him my gift to him. ( A card and a portable satelite radio) So he says to me " I can't find my wallet, are you mad" So I say " It's always something isn't it?" and he says " Well, I did get you choc cov strawberries, they're in the fridge" I'm pretty excited by this point. It's not much but I do love me some choc cov strawberries. Then he proceeds with " I really have no idea where my wallet is and I didn't have much money so that's all I could get you today-is that ok" I told him that was fine, so then I guess when the game wasn't going his way he decided not to play it anymore, he went into the bedroom and pulled out two boxes, one had a small ruby ring (alivia's birthstone) and heart shaped earrings to match-he said that was to make up for the mother's day fiasco (that's another story!!) So all in all he did very well and we had a very nice dinner at the melting pot. After he gave me the boxes he said " I really didn't get you a card though" I wonder if I will be able to have him completely trained by our 10th wedding anniversary!!

2nd Anniversary!

Today is our second wedding anniversary. And actually we got married on our 5 year anniversary so technically, today is our 7th anniversary. It doesn't seem that long!!

Jury Duty

A few weeks ago I had the privilige of attending Jury Duty. I was kinda excited just because I had never done it before and was looking forward to the experience. So, I get there at 8:30 just like I'm supposed to and we sat in a room until 10:00. They finally called us into the courtroom and then asked us about 100 questions. Finally at 3:45 they pick the jury. I was juror #12!!! As soon as you get selected you go right up in your seat and court begins. We were there until about 6 that night. When we left that night they told us we couldn't discuss the case with anyone and we couldn't look anything up on the internet about the case. Suprisingly enough, I sort of listened. I didn't look it up on the internet. So the next day we go back in at 9 and we are there until 7 that night. We did find him guilty on two counts of burglary. The defense didn't have any case except to say " The state doesn't have any evidence beyond a reasonable doubt" The guy never said a word and we had so many questions that weren't answered by either side. And they say, if you aren't sure then you have to rule in honor of the defense. That's easier said than done. It's funny because when we were listening to all of the evidence you wonder what the other jurors are thinking-because you can't talk to them about the case until after you hear all of the eviendence. When we were excused to deliberate it was clear that everyone was thinking the same way that I was-HE IS SO GUILTY!! It only took us about 20 minutes to reach a decision: When I got home that night I looked up his name on the internet and here's what I found:

06/30/94- 3 counts of 2nd degree burglary
12/27/01-speeding
03/02/02-seat belt
04/12/02-speeding
04/14/02-child seat belt
04/14/02-speeding
10/18/02-seat belt
10/18/02-material on windshield
12/30/02-seat belt
12/30/02-material on windshield
09/12/03-seat belt
11/21/03-seat belt
11/23/03-speeding
12/23/03-seat belt
08/08/04-littering 2 counts
10/02/04-tresspassing 2nd degree
05/21/05-speeding
07/14/05-speeding
07/14/05-unauthorized oper a motor veh
07/19/05-speeding
07/19/05-seat belt
08/02/05-2 counts burglary 2nd degree
12/17/05-passing bad check

Isn't that nuts!! After it was all said and done I was glad that I hadn't looked on the internet before we made our decision. I think he was supposed to do 15 years for that burglary back in 1994-that would explain why he wasn't in trouble again until 01. His sentencing is next monday-I can't wait to see what he gets! And you would think that this was a kid right-nope-he's 41-what an idiot!!!

Jobs are good

So, about two weeks ago I get a phone call that I've gotten a few too many times. "Honey, I quit my job, but it wasn't my fault!!" Rob, gotta love him. My husband is a very talented painter and he knows it. Every other time that he has gotten mad and quit his job-he had something lined up. Well, this time he didn't. I didn't freak out or yell at him because like I said EVERY OTHER TIME he had something lined up. I'm always ok until he starts freaking out. He has applied at every place you can think of and talked to every one that he knows-noone is hiring right now. So we're starting to get a little worried. Luckily, he's had a few small side jobs, that has helped out and he's got another one lined up for next week so that will buy some more time. Each time he does this he learns a valuable lesson-He has come so far in so many areas since I met him 7 years ago. He actually sent an apology letter to the company that he quit after working there for 5 years. I couldn't believe it!!!!! It's funny though because I didn't quit my job-I go to work every day but I can't go to Target anytime I want to now-What's up with that!!! I guess that's what marriage is all about though. So if anyone has a car that they need fixed or painted get ahold of me!!

Fad Diet Month 2 update

Today I weighed in for the second month and I lost 3 more pounds. This last month was not very productive. But, I have lost a total of 14 pounds. 28 more days to go. I need to get back on track-I'm such a cheater! I can't help it, I love food too much!!!

1st Birthday

Here are some pictures from Alivia and Jack's first bday parties

Ms Popularity

Alivia & Jack
Alivia is going to a new babysitter now because our old sitter went back to work-I was not happy about that! It seems to be working out well though-she's very popular!! I dropped her off today and one of the mom's came in to drop off her daughter and said "there's your baby" (talking about alivia) she said "That's how I wake her up in the morning, telling her she needs to get up and get ready to go see Alivia" I thought that was funny, yesterday when I picked her up I walked in and some other mom was holding Alivia. Then the sitter told me that one of the little boys kisses her all day. I'm not sure how I feel about that but it seems cute enough. I hope this isn't the start of a much bigger problem!!!!!!

The Pregnancy Epidemic

My husbands family has always been known for having babies in pacts-it goes like this-My nephew kyle, neice rachel and rob's cousin rebecca were all born in the same year. Then my nephew nathan and friend of the family easton were born the same year. Then there was evan and he was born all by himself. Then my sister in law marsha had her son austin last year and of course alivia was born last year. NOW-my sister in law kelly and rob's cousin's wife amanda are pregnant. Isn't that nuts??? So pretty much if someone in the family gets pregnant you better watch out because you could be next!!!!

Doctors Scale

I went to the doctor today to get "weighed in" I use to hate the Doctors scale because I always felt like it said more than what the home scale said, however, today I love it. According to the doctor's office I have lost 11 pounds since I began my diet on June 12. My home scale says I have lost 8 pounds. Either way, I am back to my pre-baby weight. I am pretty proud of that. I always thought that when I had kids I would blow up and never be able to lose the weight. My daughter will be one on Sunday, so it took right at about a year to get back. I have 60 days left and it's going really well. It's not the hardest thing I've ever done and it's healthy so it's a win/win. I don't have to go to the doctor to weigh in for another 30 days but I weigh myself every morning at home. I will keep you up to date

Babies first fourth!

Here are some pictures of Alivia, Jack and Brayden from the fourth of july parade in O'Fallon. I don't think any of them really cared about the parade but they all looked really adorable!!

Fad Diet Update

I started the diet on June 12 and have lost 6 pounds to date. Only 73 more days to go!!

Weird Crush

My mom took me and my sisters to the Rascal Flatts concert last saturday night at UMB. It was really good. Gary Allan was there also, I don't care for him, he's too whiny but he is cute. The wreckers were there, they were really good. I really like rascal flatts, but more importantly, I have a weird crush on the lead singer Gary LeVox. I don't know if it's the hair or the voice or the shiny clothes he wears but I think he is really sexy!!

I can't believe it's already been a year!

We went yesterday to get Jack & Alivia's 1st Birthday pictures taken, they did so good!

Another Fad Diet...

I'm such a sucker. I'm doing another Fad Diet. It's called One Day Diet. You may have heard about it on the radio, you eat anything you want every other day and on the Diet Days you eat these Chocolate flavored food tab things and you can have all the fresh fruit that you want. I started last monday and I have lost 4 pounds so far. You do it for 90 days and report back to them as to how much you lost, there are about 20 different little things you have to do and send it and if you do it all you will get $1,000 and reimbursed for the product! Unfortunatly, I have no will power when it comes to food so I have to do stupid stuff like this to lose weight and having a baby didn't help that out either! Hopefully it works! I'll keep you up to date with my progress.

Advice to new moms...

Here's some advice to new mothers-it's almost impossible to get anything done at home when your young child is awake. Therefore, I would advise you invest in the following, a good sturdy highchair, the biggest box of cheerios you can find, a good exersaucer and a baby einstein video!! These are the best babysitters you will find. These are the things I use when Alivia is awake and I need to get something done in the house. The other day after working at the diner I was exausted and Rob had to go to work so I put Liv in her saucer, popped in a baby einstein movie, set it for Repeat Play and took a nap on the couch!! When I'm trying to do laundry I will stick her in her highchair and dump a bunch of cheerios on the tray. She eats some of them but mainly plays with them, this usually works for 15 minutes or so. I took some pictures of her cleaning up her cheerio mess the other day. You might think I'm a bad mom for letting her eat food off the floor but I thought it was cute and they were fresh!!
Plus, she's the one that threw them there!

Fun Weekend

We went out two times this weekend. That is very unusual for us! Friday night we went to The Blues on the Mississippi with Amber, Bryan, Brayden and some people from my work. It was a nice night but a little cool. Saturday night we went to a trivia night for my cousin. They raised $20,000. It was alot of fun. These pictures are from Friday night.