Big C is 5!

So...there is this boy...

And, he's kinda of stolen my heart...for 5 years now...

However, I'm the lucky one...

    because he calls me Mom. 

Clayton, 

      Today you turn 5 years old.  You LOVE wrestling. You can name all of the WWE wrestlers, sing their entrance songs, do all of their finishing moves, and signature entrance moves.  You can read sentences with sight words and small three letter words. You have a memory like an elephant and can make connections and problem solve well beyond your years.  You continue to have a heart of gold.  Clayton, you love unconditionally and bring out the goodness in everyone you meet.  You have the most tender heart and your ability to sympathize and empathize rivals some adults!  You are fiercely protective of your sister and I and your Dad is by far your biggest idol.  Today, you just told me that you are excited to go to Kindergarten next year.  I'm more excited to see what little discoveries you make and learn each day.  I love when you get wrapped up in playing or looking at something and I just watch you as you try to figure it out...you are so smart!   Clayton, thank you for being my son...my love for you is beyond the expression of words. 

Love always, 

     Mommy

Big C, 

Five years ago today we were having our first practice back from Christmas break. We were throwing the ball around everywhere and I couldn't understand why we couldn't jump on the flight of the ball or front the cutter during shell drill. I decided to throw a fit and throw my keys across the gym so I could jump in a drill. All was fine until my manager told me "Coach, the contractions are at the point you said you needed to leave" (Yeah, he had my phone getting contraction updates from Lindsay). I then frantically started looking for my keys which I had no idea where I had thrown them. Luckily, this puny freshman guard (who is still puny to this day) sprinted over and found my keys so I could go get Linds and head to the hospital...Happy Birthday Clayton! I love wrestling with you and watching our 4 wrestling shows a week together. I also love how you get frustrated and can't understand why the Cubs and Bears hardly ever win. You have some great people associated with your birthday story and you deserve it!

  Love, 

   Daddy

Merry Christmas 2012

We hope you had a blessed Christmas 

filled with warm memories of family and friends!

Joe the Elf...Card Player

Totally normal...an elf, playing a game of war...with The Rock....

You know, typical evening....

Joe the Elf

Joe left a little message for Big C and Big Girl C...

Apparently, Joe got tired from making this mess on my kitchen counter and needed to rest...

Santa and His Elf

With Thanksgiving over, I'm in full Christmas mode!  The tree is trimmed...all 9 of them...the stockings are hung on the "buffet table" with much care....letters are written to Santa...we have also seen the new movie "Rise of the Guardians"  to get in the Christmas spirit for any stragglers.  We kicked off our Christmas festivities with visiting the one and only....SANTA CLAUSE!   Big C of course was grinning from ear to ear...Big Girl C, well, lets just say, she needed some bribing...

Our elf, Joe, came back to us this year, surprising us by being in the car on the way back from visiting Santa.   

Our Joe is rather mischievous, I will be sure to share all of his antics. 

Gobble Gobble Til We Wobbled Wobbled!

I know...I know...been a while...We've been busy making memories so I thought it was time to share a few! I've always thought that cooking the Thanksgiving meal was only for those PRO cooks.  While I feel as though I can hold my own in a kitchen, I wasn't sure I was up to "cooking Thanksgiving meal" standard.  This year, I thought..."I can do this!"  So, I did!

After weeks of preparation...watching food network, searching blogs, cook books, magazines, friends, families....yes, a little obsessive!   Big Girl C helped me set the table...well, "helped"...

   Since I was cooking, I wasn't able to take too many pictures, but I definitely got one picture of the bird cooking...mmmm...it was DELICIOUS!

 The meal was a success! Everyone left with full bellies, no one got sick, and I have multiple reservations for next year!  Let the preparations  begin! Ha!

Last Tastes of Summer

As fall is trying to slowly creep in on us, we are trying to get as much out of the outdoor weather as we possibly can.  Big C had a soccer this week and Big Girl C came along to cheer on her brother.  I thought we needed a treat...so FRO YO it was!!

These lasts tastes of summer are tasting GREAT! 

Guest Bloggin'

I'm a guest blogger!!  I've never been one before and was honored to be asked to do it!

        A friend of a friend of mine...(who's confused now?!)...recently asked me to be a guest blogger on her blog. The topic of the post was about marriage.  She had some very specific questions about marriage and the secrets behind a good marriage.  If you know me personally, you know that I have no secrets so when Faith asked me of course I agreed.

                       Head on over to Faith's blog to read my own personal thoughts on marriage.

Best Impromptu Dance Party EVER!

This little girl...

Melts my heart...

And makes any day...

Always end in the best way... 

If You're Looking...

For a book to read, and you enjoyed The Hunger Games , boy do I have a book for you!   The author, Veronica Roth, is from Chicago and wrote the her first book, Insurgent at the age of 22.  While in college, she preferred to work on her book instead of working on her class assignment.  Her first book, Insurgent, is based on a post apocalyptic era where human nature has almost destroyed one another.  Instead of the human race being divided up into districts as in The Hunger Games, the population is divided into fractions by the different character traits in which they felt people did not posses enough of which ultimately lead to the demise of the world as we currently know it.

 

In her second book, Divergent, the author dives even deeper into the different character traits of people, and the readers begin to see how people need to posse all of these traits equally in order to live in harmony. However, no good book is without a twist and turn...so this book creates a super secret in which the main characters are trying to discover.  I double dog dare you to not fall in love with the main characters, who just so happen to fall in love in the first book and have a difficult path together in the second book.

If you read the first two books and are still wanting more...like me....and have a hard time waiting for her third book n the trilogy, again, like me...Roth as written a short (like 50 pages) essay on a scene from the first book, but through Four's point of view. 

AND...if you are still like me, and you can simply get enough....check out her blog!

Some Firsts for Big C

Big C had his first soccer practice tonight...can you tell he was excited?

He wrote his first thank you letter tonight (Mama wrote, Big C spoke).  At the end of the letter, he signed it and drew his very first stick person...himself playing soccer! 

I'm pretty sure he is growing up WAY to fast!! 

One Last Summer Hoorah!

We spent this weekend with one last summer family fun "stay-cation."  We loaded up the the truck, shipped the dogs off to the grandparents, and drove off into the sunset to Cincinnati.   Our little family of four met up with Uncle Bob, Aunt Jess, Gramz and Grampz for a weekend of baseball and underwater sea creatures!

First stop...a MLB game where we showed up in our Cubs gear! Can you tell who is the least excited to go to the game in this picture? Ha!

 There were statues of decorated pigs all around the city. This big was definitely ready for a baseball game right outside of The Great American Ballpark. Big C and Big Girl C made a fast friend with him!

One more pose outside the stadium before cheering on the Cubs to a VICTORY!!  It's funny, we have another picture just like this outside of the same stadium from earlier this summer...only we are all in Cincinnati Reds gear! 

Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what-ya say... 

Cubs are gonna WIN TODAY!!!  

Still going strong at 11:00 pm..however someone was over the pictures...

Sunday we visited The Newport Aquarium to take a  peak into underwater life. 

How would you measure up to a hammer head shark?  

Big Girl C LOVED the aquarium!  She couldn't get enough of all of the fish and underwater creatures. She love the exhibits where she could touch some of the underwater life.  Big Girl C was also attached to Uncle Bob the whole weekend.  She got to "pet" a horseshoe crab...

and a shark. 

Mama had some fun too!  I hope this never happens with a live alligator! 

The bird sanctuary was so fun!  These little guys were shy at first, but quickly ate all of the nectar.  I made it out without getting bird droppings on me which was an added bonus!

Thanks Cincinnati for a great weekend and a CUBS WIN! 

Olympics 2012

For the past 2 weeks we have ate, slept, and watched the Olympics. We have had our version of the Olympic rings hanging proudly in our home for two weeks.  I will be sad to see it coming to an end tonight during the closing ceremonies...

It's a good thing that school is starting tomorrow or we wouldn't know what to do with ourselves!! 

A New Look

I have fallen in love with refurbishing....face lifting if you will.  My favorite place to find new to me items to refurbish....garage sales and Goodwill.  At garage sales you can negotiate the price...awesome! At Goodwill, you can sign up for their rewards program and every time you spend $20 you will get 10% off your purchase.  Here is my most recent find and refurbish project.

The Before...$26 from Goodwill

The After...

Perfect storage for everything we wanted to hide....DVDs..game systems...toys...diapers...wipes...books...magazines...etc...etc...

Hmm...what can I find next.....  

What We Have Been "UP" To....

You know, just "hanging" around....