So, the mechanical condition of my escalade has been going down hill for about a year. It has needed a new water pump and theres a great built in feature that I'm sure no other escalade came with-when you're at a stop and take off, it sounds like the horn honks!! So, last week Rob told me that he was going to take the escalade in to get a new water pump and it would cost about $400-I told him to go ahead and do it because we still owe on it and plan on keeping it for awhile so we need to take care of it (not his specialty!!) So we dropped it off sunday night. Monday he called me and asked me if I wanted them to fix the rear axle too (that's what was making the horn honking noise when you take off) I said YES!!! Just let them look over it and fix whatever they need to. He told me it would be about $1300. I said that's fine. On tuesday, he called me and said they found some other stuff wrong and it would be about $1600. Again, I said that's fine, just do it. This is a friend of Rob's that he bowls with so I figured he wasn't messing with us and he would do a good job. We went and picked it up last night and the total was $2000. It's kinda funny how it went from $400 to $2000 in less than 5 days!!! They printed out everything that they did to it and it was 2 pages long!!! It needed it bad and I was feeling ok about the price. That is until I looked at the labor price and the parts price. The labor price was $1400 and the parts were $600. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! I figured that if they worked on it for 40 hours straight (which i'm sure they didn't) that's $37 an hour!!!! WOW!!! I'm in the wrong business!!!

Anyhow, it's running like a champ and we're taking it to springfield this weekend so we'll see if it was worth it!!

Last year before I made the decision to become an insurance agent, I thought maybe I should check into getting my life and health license-just because-maybe it would make me look good!! So last July I took the 2 day long course that cost $215. It was horribly boring. I studied real hard for a few days and then stopped. Then I decided to become an agent, With this you have to pass your test no more than 6 months from the day you start. I took the 2 day class again and February, studied for a few days and then stopped. I couldn't bring myself to even look at it, I didn't have any interest in the concept. So then it became April.... I started getting a little nervous (I had to have my license by May 1st!!!) I considered taking the class again and figured I really didn't want to put myself through that again!!! When I was a sales coordinator I saw EVERY SINGLE PERSON I TRAINED fail the life and health test over and over again, These were people with college degrees. I passed my property and casualty test the first time back in 1998 but I was still so freakin scared to take this stupid test!!! My manager has been trying to nicely remind me that I REALLY NEEDED TO TAKE CARE OF THIS!!! So last week I got online and scheduled the test. I didn't tell anyone about it because I didn't want to fail and have to answer to everyone!! So I went and took the test this morning and I PASSED!!! I am very excited and so relieved that I don't have to think about this anymore, I called my mom and told her and she said "Why were you worried you've never failed a test" I guess I haven't but I didn't want to walk in there and just assume I would pass. I'm very proud of myself and I think I might tell Rob he should take me out to dinner for it!!

We had a very busy weekend. Friday I left work a little early and Amber and I went to Blanchette Park and McNair Park to check them out as far as a place for her to get married. She really liked Blanchette park. We were walking through the garden at and Amber said "I hate bugs" I started looking around and I didn't see anything so I said "Where do you see a bug?" She said "What do you mean? Can't you hear it buzzing in my ear" Anyway, she loved the garden and it's a definite possibility. Saturday morning I had to work at the diner, as soon as I got home Amber wanted me to go running around with her, she then decided that we were going to have a BBQ and invite some people over. I was exhausted by the end of the night. I didn't do too much on Sunday, Amber was working and Rob was bowling, me and bryan talked about doing something all day but we never actually did, I had to bowl Sunday night. Yesterday I took the day off and Alivia and I went to the zoo with Jenny, Jack, Amber and Brayden. It was a perfect day for it. The weather was gorgeous and there was a light breeze. We had a really good time, I had to buy a disposable camera for $15 so I will post pictures as soon as I develop them. When we first got there of course we were all hungry so we sat outside and ate, some ducks came up to our table so the kids were feeding them, it was pretty funny, Amber said "Do you think ducks would eat chicken if i gave it to them?" I think she just gave them fries and she said to the ducks "Are you allowed to have ketchup?" She's retarded. Then we went over to the sea lions, Alivia went crazy-she LOVED them. They were pretty active and we got to see them eat, she kept saying "I SEE 'EM, I SEE 'EM, MOMMY, I SEE 'EM!!!!) Every time I go to the zoo it's too hot and all the animals are hiding in the shade but they were out and about yesterday, it was so nice. Rob and I are going to Springfield, Mo this weekend, he is bowling there. I love going to Springfield, they have alot of malls and really good restaurants. That's all I got for now...

Thoughts.....

THANK GOD SANJAYA FINALLY GOT BOOTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited. I really was starting to feel bad for him. I got on Howard Stern's website yesterday so see if what I had heard about him rallying to keep Sanjaya was true and it was. He was campaigning to keep Sanjaya on American Idol because he sucked. It's sad that he has that much influence over people. I'm glad that america finally got it right!!

I was watching the news last night and they did a dedication to all of the people that lost their lives in Virgina this week. They showed pictures of the victims and I happened to notice that there was no rhyme or reason the the type of people that were killed, there were women, men, students, teachers, caucasions, african americans, asians, a german teacher, a russian teacher and a french teacher. I just thought that was strange.

I don't really have much else going on, I've been sick for the last two weeks and finally starting to feel better. Things have been a little slow at work but I think they're picking up. I'm writing a HUGE house next week so that makes me happy!!!

2 more weeks of blog material....

We were sitting at breakfast the other day and Amber leaned over to Bryan and said something kind of quietly.

Amber: I need to ask you a question, but I think it's kind of dumb
Bryan: (rolling his eyes) What?
Amber:But I think it's dumb
Bryan: WHAT?!?
Amber: Do geese have pockets for their legs when they fly
Bryan: WHAT?!?!?!?!??!
Amber: Do geese have pockets to tuck their legs into when they fly? Because they fly for days and their legs would get tired
By this time we are all laughing hysterically
Bryan: First of all they DON'T fly for days at a time, they take breaks. And no they don't have pockets.
Amber: Well I just didn't know what they did with their legs when they flew.

They move out in two weeks, what will I write about then?!?!?

Lots of things going on...

Amber and Bryan are officially homeowners! Here's a pic of their new house

They move in at the end of this month! On Saturday we went out to Mt. Pleasant winery to check into Amber and Bryan getting married there, It's very pretty there and ironically it's off of Jackson St!!!!! Amber thought the "grape trees" were cute! She's hopeless.

Alivia got her first haircut on Friday. I really did not want to do it but, it was getting pretty bad. I had to fix her hair every morning which I LOVE to do, but if her ponytail holder or barette would come out during the day the babysitter wouldn't fix it, she would just let her run around with hair in her face so I figured I would just do it. She did really good, we went to amber's work and amber gave her a sucker and she let amber cut her hair, she didn't, however, want to put the cape on. But it looks very cute and she did very well.

I think the terrible twos are starting already. She has become very independent lately. We got into a fight last week because she wanted her sandals on and not her tennis shoes. Now she wants to pick out the food she eats and I have to show her several options before we can sit down to eat. I have to hold things up in front of her and she wants to pick everything out!! Last night she didn't want to put her pajamas on. I'm not sure I'm strong enough for this!!!

Jenny and I are starting to plan Alivia and Jack's 2nd birthday party. We are going to do a circus theme at a park. It's going to be so much fun, I can't wait. We are renting a sno cone truck and we bought popcorn boxes.

That's about it for now!!

Back from Reno

We were only gone for a week but once we got back it seemed like much longer than that. When we left everything was still kinda brown and dead, when we got back we had green grass and blossomed trees, weird! Brayden also started walking while we were gone! We missed Alivia soooo much and we're so happy to see her again. I, however, didn't miss or think about-Laundry, dishes, myspace, blogs, email, bills or anything else of that nature. It was nice. We got back saturday around 3 and we are completely exausted-aren't you supposed to feel relaxed when you get back from vacation?? I have a few pictures of things we did when we were there. Here are some pics from an AMAZING dinner that we had a the Sterling Steakhouse located in the Silver Legacy Casino and Hotel. Rob got a lobster and I got a filet and 2 HUGE king crab legs. Our friend Mike said it was the best dinner he had ever had in his whole life!! He got king crab legs also.

Whenever we got out of town I go to the hotel lobby and look over all the brochures of things to do. I am the official entertainment committee of all vacations! I pick whatever looks interesting and bring them back to the room and look over them. This year we wanted to do something different, this was our third time to reno. The first two times we went snowmobiling in the mountains which was awesome but we didn't want to do that again. I came across a brochure for a hot air balloon ride. I asked rob not knowing what he would say: "You wouldn't want to do a hot air balloon ride would you?" to which he replied "Hell yea!!" So I called and made reservations, It was about an hour away from where we stayed. We had to be there at 7:15 in the morning. They set up a nice breakfast for us while the set the balloon up.

It was really cool, I'm glad we did it. Here are a few pics from up in the sky. We got up to about 8,000 feet above the ground. I love the pic of the shadow of the balloon!

Next year the tournament is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I don't think there's a whole lot to do there so we won't stay as long and Maybe we will take Alivia!!

Alivia's new word

So the past few days we've noticed Alivia repeating a certain four letter word. Bryan and Rob are the worst at cussing when the kids are around. They're trying to refrain but it's kinda hard. Last night Bryan was sitting at the kitchen counter eatting dinner and Alivia was sitting on the counter mooching off of him as usual. Bryan bit his tongue and said "Shit!" a few seconds later Alivia said clear as day "Shit!" Bryan's eyes got real wide and he said "Did she just say what I think she said" and I said "Yep she sure did" a few seconds later she said it again.
This morning I was walking into the babysitter's house and I was carrying alivia and her bag and trying to pick the morning gunk out of her eye and I went from the drive way to the sidewalk and kinda lost my balance and tripped, I didn't say anything but alivia said right away "Shit"

I'm not sure what to do I've been just kinda ignoring it, at least she's using it correctly!! ok just kidding but I really don't know what to do!!

Reno Weather forecast

Mon Mar 19
Mostly Sunny
67°/38°
10 %
Tue Mar 20

Few Showers
54°/33°
30 %

Wed Mar 21
Mostly Cloudy
57°/29°
10 %

Thu Mar 22
Sunny
63°/35°
10 %

Fri Mar 23
Partly Cloudy
69°/35°
10 %

Sat Mar 24
AM Clouds / PM Sun
70°/34°
10 %

Here's the forecast for Reno next week, I was hoping it would be warmer but I can handle 60's every day.

The resort that we are staying at in reno has a day spa, I told Rob that I wanted to get a manicure and pedicure while we're there and he asked if they did massages and I told him they probably did since it was a day spa. So he said he wanted to go with me and maybe get a mani and pedi too!!! I can't wait!!!!!!!!

5 MORE DAYS TILL RENO!!!

So this time next monday I will be on a plane to reno!! I'm very excited. I took this picture of Alivia yesterday with my cell phone. Rob had to bowl yesterday so we just layed around, played and did laundry. She was SOOO GOOD yesterday. She was having a bad hair day :)

It's kind of hard to tell from this picture but she has her pants around her ankles. When she has to go potty she stands up and pulls her pants down and says "Potty" until you take her. She actually goes potty about 50% of the time. But, none the less I think this is an adorable picture.

Saturday after work I came home and put on a t-shirt and pj pants, as I do every day of my life. This particular shirt (which i would never wear in public-just wanted to throw that in!) says on the front "How do you keep an idiot busy (see back of shirt) and on the back it says "How do you keep an idiot busy (see front of shirt)

Amber:(reading my shirt) Turn around

So I turn around

Amber:(reading my shirt) Turn around

So I turn around and say "did you think it would change"

Amber: I don't get it

Me:Exactly

A few minutes later she says she wants to cut brayden's hair and i need to hold him, She starts putting the cape thing on me

Me:Why are you putting this on me

Amber: So you don't get hair all over you

Me:What about brayden

Amber:I'm going to put him in the bathtub

I start walking down the hall

Amber: where are you going

me:I thought you said you were going to put him in the bathtub

Amber: AFTER I CUT HIS HAIR!!................ How do you keep an idiot busy?

me: (Laughing hysterically) oh!

Sucks to be you

It's kinda hard to see but this is a picture of my neighbors driveway with a HUGE ASS tree lying across it!!!! You also can't see from the picture but there are two smaller trees lying behind it. When these trees fell they pushed about 20 other smaller trees down with it. You can kinda see a few of them here. The other picture is from my dining room window showing all the trees that got pushed down from these falling. There is no other way to their house-I guess they've been either climbing over it or going under it, I don't really know!!

In other news, we have another new baby in the family: Payton Ann Howell was born March 1st at 7:30 AM. She's very cute!!! Alivia liked her very much-she gave her kisses and pointed out all of her major parts-belly, head and socks!!

too many good shows

You should have seen my remote control smoking last night!! There were way to many of my shows on- the "last" button on my remote got worn out! American Idol, Are you smarter than a 5th grader, Road Rules and Bam's Unholy Union. American Idol was pretty good-much better than last week-I love that Chris Richardson and Blake Lewis. We were talking about the "are you smarter than a 5th grader show and decided that we are definitly not smarter than any of those kids. I did know one of the questions-What does REM stand for-Bryan challenged me because he didn't think that I was right. When they showed the preview and the question was "What is a trapazoid" Amber said "Isn't that a binder?" and then we laughed hysterically at her and told her she was thinking of a trapper keeper! Then we started flipping back and forth and only caught a few minutes of road rules which is fine, MTV will replay that all weekend-We decided that we HATE Kina but it was funny to see Angel step up to her. And then Bam's unholy union was on-ok, i know that he is a jackass but that show is hilarious. For being such an immature little punk he treats his fiance pretty good. They were sitting around the table at christmas with the 50 foot tree that he pulled out of his mom's yard and amber said "this showed was taped at thanksgiving?" Bryan said "Yea, amber, most people put up a xmas tree for thanksgiving" and amber said "Well, they're eating turkey" and I said "You can have turkey for dinner even if it's not thanksgiving" and she said "oh"

There will be alot of good shows on tonight too. American Idol, Are you smarter than a 5th grader and real world. Another busy night! Alivia and I are going to visit with Kelly and Gianna. I've only seen her twice and I can't wait to see how much she's changed. Rob's cousin will be having her baby this week too. She's going in tonight to get induced. So we should have another baby tomorrow! Her name is Payton. I'll post pics on friday. That's it for now I guess!!

Dumb and Dumber (stolen conversation for blog purposes!)

My cousin Matt called my sister the other day and here was their conversation:

Matt : Do you and Bryan want to come over on Thursday for a sex party?
Amber: (Pause) Is is a couple party?
Matt: What?
Amber: What?
Matt: What are you talking about?
Amber: What are YOU talking about?
Amber: Is it a sex toy party?
Matt: NO, we find out the sex of the baby on thursday so we're having some people over.
Amber: DO NOT call anyone else and ask them that question!!

Rambling.....

We had a crazy busy weekend. Friday night I went to a happy hour with some people from work. I think our waitress was on crack or something. Everytime we asked her for something she looked at us with a blank stare like she had to process what we just said-weird. Then I met up with Rob at the bowling alley. Afterwards we went to Chipolte-Rob's new obsession. However I was craving White Castle so we went by there too. Saturday, Rob worked in the morning, I stayed at home and did some laundry and all that fun stuff. Alivia and I spent most of the day in the bathroom, she's doing pretty good with telling me when she has to go and things like that and she does NOT want to put a diaper on anymore. Saturday night I went to a mouse race as a fundraiser for Anthony's baseball team. There was a lot of really good food there-it was fun. After that Mindy, Rob and I went to the boat. I lost most of my money pretty quick, then I ran into my ex boyfriend, we talked to him for awhile, Rob met up with us and said "I'm a loser what do you want to do" I said "Well, I have $24.95 left, let's go lose it then we can go" By this time it was about 2:30 AM. We sat down at a penny machine and I had a pretty good buzz going on so we were having a good time. Something weird started happening on the machine and I said "I don't know what's happening" The lady next to me said "You just won $62 five times!!" "NO WAY!!" I yelled and rob said "HOW MUCH?!? ISN'T THIS A PENNY MACHINE??!, Ok, Amy let's go!!" So I played a few more times and cashed it out for $270. That was pretty nice. We took Mindy home then went home at about 3:30. Rob had to bowl at 9 in the morning. He wanted me and Liv to come up and watch him so we did, I wasn't feeling very well. I only had one drink and one shot so it couldn't be a hangover. It was weird. So we went to the bowling alley for a little bit, then I remembered that I had something of jenny's and we were right by her house so we went by there. The kids played for a little bit. We ended up going to walmart together. I bought livy some big girl panties!! She picked them out herself, my little pony and tinker bell. The smallest size I could find was 2T. I guess they figure a 19 month old doesn't need underwear!! I also bought her a booster seat for the kitchen table-she doesn't want to sit in her high chair anymore. Then we went home and took a nap, I was hoping I would feel better because I was suppose to bowl that night. When I woke up I felt even worse then I did when I went to bed. So, I called in sick to bowling, I never do that but I felt so weird. We ended up going to bed at 8:00 last night. I still felt tired when I woke up this morning. I won't be able to sleep in at all this week either-geez!! Ok, well that was about a bunch of nothing so I guess I will get back to work now!

Smartest kid on the planet!

At Alivia's 18 month appointment the doctor said we could start thinking about potty training. We bought her a potty chair probably about 6 months ago. Its a wood chair with a magazine rack and a toilet paper holder-only the best for my kid!! It's been in her room and she uses it for a step-stool!! So last night, she needed her diaper changed and I had to go potty, so I thought, well, let's give it a shot and see how it goes. I brought the chair into the bathroom, took off her diaper and pants and sat her on the chair, I did my business and then I hear the sound of tinkles in her chair! SHE WENT POTTY!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it. We threw a bit fit, telling her what a big girl she was and clapping. We emptied the chair and I said ok let's put your diaper back on. She said "NO!" She sat down and went potty-AGAIN!!!! This happened two more times!!!! She's a potty-machine!! I can't wait to try again tonight and see if it was a fluke or not.

Happy Valentines Day!

We decided at the last minute to take the kids to get valentine pictures taken yestersday, I'm so glad we did because they turned out soooooooo good!! Rob got me some stuff from bath and body (as i requested!), beautiful roses and we went to Red Lobster for an early dinner. It was a very nice day.

Random Conversation last night:

Ashley: Bryan, did you still want to get rid of your tattoo?

Bryan: Why, do you want it?

Springfiled, il

I LOVE Springfield, Il!! Ok, not really, but I did LOVE the fact that it's a non smoking CITY!! We went there this weekend for a bowling tournament, when I got there I was SHOCKED to see that the bowling alley had a no smoking sign up! I couldn't believe it. Then we went out to dinner and there was no smoking there too!! I wish they would do that around here. I'm sorry to all of you that smoke and I know that I can't understand that it's an addiction, but it's such a disgusting habit that bothers people around you that don't wish to share your habit with you. It was so nice to sit in a bowling alley for several hours and not smell like an ashtray when we left. Overall we had a very nice weekend!!

Rob stuff

Rob, Alivia and I went out to eat last week to Emperor's Palace. It was really good and a good environment for Alivia because it was busy-lots of things to look at. Rob came back from his 3rd or 4th trip to the buffet with this in his bowl, if you can't tell, it's octopus. YUCK! He took one bite and said it didn't taste that bad but he just couldn't do it!!!

I received this text from Rob this morning:

Good morning Miss Wifey, you don't like talking to your husband now or what, you got another man i need to know about, give me a call, love me, your hubby

I've been very busy at work and I guess he's feeling neglicted!! We're going out of town this weekend so hopefully he'll feel better next week!!

Welcome Baby Gianna!!

Gianna Marie Fleites was born on 01/31/07 at 3:20 pm. She weighed 7'9 and was 20 inches long. Everyone is doing great!!

Crazy Morning

We were in a hurry this morning to get ready and out of the house-not too different from any other morning. If Alivia wakes up before I get in the shower it works out perfect because she can eat breakfast, watch curious george and wake up before we have to leave. However, if she wakes up after I get out of the shower then there's no time for any of this. This makes for a really bad day!! If she doesn't get this time to wake up then she doesn't want to get dressed, put on her shoes and coat and she sure isn't going to cooperate getting into the car. That was pretty much my morning today. She assumed the wet noodle position as I tried to put her coat on her limp body laying on the floor-not too easy to do. I can usually coax her into putting her coat on by telling her that she can go outside-she LOVES to go outside. So after the wrestling match I carried her to the car as she assumed the straight as a board position. Then as I put her in the carseat she assumed the arched back position. We were finally on our way. I met up with kelly to drop Alivia off and then sped through the drivethru at Hardee's. As I'm getting out of the car my cell phone rang and as I answered it I grabbed my food and rushed into work. When I got off the phone and gathered my thoughts, I noticed that there was something on the bottom of my cup. My cup holder isn't that big in my car so anytime I have a big cup the cup holder will stick to the bottom when I take the cup out. I hadn't noticed that I had carried the cup into work with the cupholder from my car still attached! So I had to take a pic to share. Yesterday Alivia was screaming as I was pulling out of the driveway and I side swipped the Escalade-there was no damage though-lucky for me!!!