Thursday, February 25, 2010

Big News!

I drove past the house today...

So, I don't know if I posted about it, but there was this ugllllllly farm scene on the wallpaper boarder in the formal dining room, that's going to be our office/craft room. And guess what?? They took it down, and painted it white! YAY! No farm scene. I mean, I love Iowa, I love farms, I love corn. But that has no place in my dining room.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Moving

Why does nobody tell you just how HORRIBLE moving is. I mean, granted this move? Nothing like the great move of '08, where we packed up our Penske truck, and headed to the great unknown. Seriously, we picked out our townhouse on the internet, sight unseen.

But I think it's almost more of a hassle to move only 10 minutes away. I mean, I'm like eh why do I have to pack my clothes into a box? I'm just going to take them out in 24 hours anyway! I think I'm gonna be a little lazy with this move. We get the keys on Friday, so I think I'm going to pack up my car with random stuff, my clothes, boys clothes, maybe some of Barry's clothes and put them away stat. Then at least we'll have something to wear when our house is covered in boxes.

My plan of action for the new house?
Priority 1. Basement/Toy room.
Why the basement you may be asking yourself. Well to me? It makes the most logical choice. If my kids have a TV, DVD player, plus their infinite number of toys, then I think they might be less likely to drive me completely insane.

Priority 1.5 Kitchen. I mean, we need to eat.

Priority 2. My computer/office area. Because duh. I'm addicted.

Priority 3. The family room. We have until Sunday to get the Family room all organized, that's when the direct TV guy comes, or is it Dish? Anyhoo, you get the idea. Sunday between 12-4. Yay! TV. I am really, really quite distraught though. I've got almost the entire season 5 of Bones DVR'd on my Mediacom box. The box that I have to give back to Mediacom on Monday. Bye, Bye Booth! And Bones doesn't even start up again until April or something.

I'm not worried so much about the boys and their room. While I'm in Washington, we're going to order them bunkbeds, and Barry's going to put them together, and make their beds! We got the CUTEST bedding. When we get home, I want to paint their room the moon color, kind of a putty/liiiiight khaki color. And get a red area rug to cover the inevitable jewel toned carpet in their room.

In Washington, I'm going to work on transitioning Gabe into sleeping in a bed. There's not a crib upstairs anyway, and he'll be two (sob, sob) so I think it's about time to transition him. Plus, he's getting less and less happy in his crib. He doesn't climb out, yet. He does, however, climb in on occasion. I'm probably crazy, but what better time than the present! :)

And before I end this post, I've been told, a blog post is worthless without pictures.

So here are my crazy boys.
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This was at the bouncy house place, Friday. They look thrilled, right?

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Besty's Birthday

Today marks the day of my remarkable BFF Stacy's birthday!

Let's take a stroll down memory lane...will you stroll with me?

Stacy and I met in 6th grade. Luckily, for us, I don't have any pictures from 6th-8th grade.

Here we are in 9th grade.
From History Lesson


This was pretty typical behavior for us.
From History Lesson



This one is a doozie. This is the first time I sprained/injured my right ankle. I was chasing that there boy, and fell down those stairs. Stacy and Jeanette accompanied me to the ER. Fun times

From History Lesson


My baptism...
From History Lesson




Sr. Prom
From History Lesson


From History Lesson





Fast Forward. Year after graduation, so what 2003? Stacy and Tara, 2 of my BFFs were baptized.
From History Lesson


Stacy's Wedding
From History Lesson


I just want to say how thankful I am for Stacy. She's one of the smartest and most brilliant people I know. She takes the most amazing pictures, I want to soak up just 1/5 of her talent. Stacy has been there for me during ALL of the hard times in my life, as well as the good. She was with me when I was married, came to see both of my boys in the hospital after they were born. She was the first friend/family to come visit me in Iowa. I don't know how, or why I have been so blessed to have her in my life, but I have been! And I have a feeling, we're going to be BFF until forever! 6th grade until now...gosh I'm kind of scared to do the math. But I think it's like 14 years! We've been friends longer than we haven't!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Julian wants a baby sister!

And not for any real reason, aside from this


He wants a baby sister, so that he can be the doctor, with his baby brother. Ugh.

Wanna see my Valentines?

Ok so you've seen them before. Barry, Julian and Gabriel. Here's what I did to celebrate Valentine's Day for my special men.

Using my new Pampered Chef Batter Bowl (I have seriously wanted one of these for years. I even asked for it for Christmas, from everyone, but nobody took me seriously!) I made red pancakes
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For my litter carnivore, Julian, sausage.
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I have to put the same things on their plates, Julian and Gabriel, or else a fight ensues.

Red Pancakes...kinda freaky looking
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Pink Daisy? Someone knows me VERY well! (My bouquet also had stargazer lily, my other favorite!)
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The breakfast!
Pink Heart pancakes-Check
Heart Egg-Check
and sausage for the carnivores- Check!
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I had a super Valentine's Day. We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day, because it's a super commercial holiday. I hate that florists charge double for roses, because they know that people will spend it. I hate special Valentine's Day menus and the crowds at restaurants. I'm a little scrooge-y when it comes to Cupid. I do however, quite enjoy, the pink, and red, and hearts that are so present during this holiday! I love pink, red, and hearts, and flowers. Oh, and chocolate.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

The Gala...er sorta.

Here's a little playbook of our night last night.

Gabe's list of things to bring to Jackie's?
1. Blankie-Check
2. Puppy- Check
3. Bumblebee- Check

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J and his dirt moustache's list of things to bring?
1. Blankie- Check
2. Patches- Check
3. The Fallen?- Check
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Barry's ready for dinner! Just guess where we ate!
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I'm getting better with the self portraits. The D90 is a LOT heavier than the D40 was. This one turned out pretty good
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Here's where we went to dinner-
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Just kidding. That's where the boys ate dinner
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And here's where we ate dinner.
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So. I tried to take a picture of my delicious dinner. I had the spicy sausage rigatoni. The little (he was seriously 14, max) busser came right as I'd busted out my camera, and he looked at me like I was a little crazy. But ZOMG. So. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Seriously. I ate it for breakfast. And I don't eat leftovers. Like, ever. Barry had the chicken and proscuitto (i know I spelled that one wrong...) and then we had the best desert. Chocolate. Creme'. Brulee. Seriously. They combined two of my favorite things. Creme Brulee, and chocolate. Oh man. So. Good. I think next time I'm getting a huge Centro Salad, it has some yummy goat cheese and walnuts, and red onions, and yummmmmy spinach and mixed greens. And a chocolate creme brulee for dinner. That with their focaccia bread? It'll be a full meal.

So I'm covering my sparkles, but they're there. I would like to thank my BFF Carly for the confidence to wear the red lipsitck. And for the how-to on my hair/makeup.

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I'm already asking Barry what the next special occasion for Centro will be. So. Yummy! The gala itself was a little bit like an awkward American Idol audition. They had a live band, and the singer sang the most random songs. For instance....Fallin' by Alicia Keys...and Womanizer by my BFF Britney Spears. Random. I was happier when they had CDs playing. IT was fun though to see my friends, and hear some exciting news from one.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Just in case you were wondering

Team Peeta f'real.

I'm sure you are sick of me-

Posting about books. But seriously, this week, I've been devouring them. (I wish that was the only thing I've been devouring, but I digress)

A few days ago, I read on my friend, Shalise's, blog about this book. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I was hesitant to read it, for some random reason, until I talked to about a kajillion other people who also recommended the book. So I downloaded it onto my iPod touch, using the kindle app, and read, and read, and read, and read, until midnight. Where I finished the book.


Friday morning, I logged onto Amazon again to buy the sequel, Catching Fire.

To my utter dismay, it's not available for kindle download. What do you mean? I have to go to the bookstore, and buy a real, honest to goodness book? Apparently I did. Except yesterday, when I was so desperate to read the book, it was snowy, and scary to drive. And considering my near death, (ok so it wasn't really near death, but it freaked me out a lot) drive home from Ankeny yesterday, I decided it wasn't worth it. This morning though, I had some errands to run anyway, errands that Barry said he would watch the boys, so I could do by myself. So I added just one more tiny, little errand to my list. Stop at Borders.

So I love Borders, a gazillion times more than Barnes and Noble. I can always find what I need at Borders. Barnes and Noble, while they have WAY more books, I can never find a copy of the book I actually want. It all started back when I needed, yes needed, the last Sookie Stackhouse novel. Barnes and Noble is about 2 minutes closer to my house than Borders. So obviously I stopped there first. They had every other Sookie book, but the one I needed. I did find something that I needed, Ina May's Guide To Childbirth , so I did have to check out anyway. The 'friendly' B&N employee asked me if I'd found everything alright, and I said, "Actually. No. I was looking for the last Sookie Stackhouse book, and you don't have it." (Wow, what a combination. Sookie Stackhouse and Ina May.) She just looked at me, and said, "your total is going to be..." Kind of left a bad taste in my mouth, and ever since then, I've gone to Borders for my booky needs, which has been quite a bit as of late.

I read Catching Fire. as quickly as humanly possible. I literally devoured it. The books are so amazing, and though provoking. And, of course, there's love. Of course. What kind of girl would I be if there wasn't some love involved.

Now, though, I'm dying! The final book of the series, Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) doesn't come out until August 24th. August? Really? August. What on earth am I going to do until August 24th? I'm lucky that a new Sookie Book comes out in May. Apparently a prequel to the Mortal Instruments comes out sometime. But someone, please help me! I need book suggestions! Leave me a comment and your email address and I'll email you when I've read the book!

In other, non-booky news, tonight is DMU's gala. I got a sparkly new dress, and painted my toenails. (For those that know me, know that it takes a lot for me to paint my toenails!) I'm excited. I think I'm going to take a nap so I have some energy for the delicious dinner, we have reservations at Centro . Today/tonight is a day for me to say, diet? What diet? I'll remember the diet tomorrow, when I weigh myself :/

Friday, February 19, 2010

Sooooo, it's snowing...

....I mean I get it. I live in Iowa. It snows, in Iowa. But really? I'm so incredibly sick of the snow. I can't wait for the humidity. If you see me complaining about humidity this summer, please remind me of this post. I'm getting really, really excited to go to Washington. My mom and friends keep baiting me, telling me that it's 60s there. Gah, that sounds pretty much like perfection compared to the snowy blizzard I just encountered.

Today the boys and I met my friend Jackie and her little boy Brogan. Jackie is due in a few months with another adorable boy, Hudson. We went to a bouncy house place, which apparently everyone else in the world decided to do today. We drove there, got the boys all checked in, de-shoed, de-coated, and went into the zoo.

When we first got there, there weren't THAT many kids, probably 10-20. When we left? At least double. Insanity. Gabe was too weirded out by all of the people, to actually play. We paid $10 for 2 hotdogs, 2 popcorns, and 2 drinks, (because my kids don't share food. Gabe's a hoarder). And then went to get re-coated, and re-shoed. Julian had a minor melt down, accusing an older boy of stealing his jacket. The truth is, the older boy, just had the SAME jacket as J. Hard concept for an almost 4 year old.

When we got outside, it was snowing. Those cute little flakes that stick in your hair, and make you feel like you're in a winter movie, as the starring role. (except you're not, and your boys are fighting over rootbeer in the back seat). I really wish I would have knit one of these hats for me...then I would have really felt like a million bucks.
Photo on 2010-02-11 at 15.36 #3


The drive home was slightly treacherous. I am a certified chicken when driving in the snow. And got off the freeway early, and drove super, duper, uper, cautiously home. We made it, I managed to get both boys into the house and lay them down for a nap before starting some research.

Stein on Writing and The Joy of Writing Sex. Because, you see, I'm doing something secret. Something that involves both of those books.

And that, is your random Friday post. I need a nap, and a diet Pepsi. Gah I haven't had one for almost 2 months!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Amazing Book!

SO I realize that a lot of my posts recently have been about books. I've been really lucky that my boys have cooperated, thus allowing me to read! It's something I love to do, but don't generally get to do all that much!

I thought that I had posted about loving the first book from the Mortal Instruments series, but I just spent a long time trying to find that post, and couldn't. But I meant to. I meant to tell you about these fantasy books that are amazingly well written. They're by Cassandra Clare. They're fantasy, and beautiful. The books are about 500 pages each, and worth every minute. I read City of Bones a while ago, upon recommendation from my brilliant BFF Carly. And was hooked. I've had City of Ashes for a while, and never sat down to read it. I got sucked in to the Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood vampire books (pun definitely intended) so I never had time to read the Mortal Instruments, until Monday. Where I read the entire second book, in a day. And then yesterday, I went to Target to see if they had the 3rd book, City of Glass. They did, I bought it, and then decided I would rather read it on the Kindle App I downloaded for my ipod touch. So that book's going back to the store today. I didn't even crack the pages. I read until late last night. I just had to know how it ended. And it ended WELL. I'm so happy.

I really, truly recommend this series. If you like things having to do with vampires, werewolves (Twilight Lovers, I'm talking to YOU!) you will probably enjoy this series as much as I have!

If you do read these books, please let me know, so we can discuss!

New Favorite!

So, if you've known me for any amount of time, you know I love General Hospital. Yeah, that General Hospital. The one that's a soap opera, completely cheesy, with amazingly good-looking people, having more drama in their life than is plausible. That one.

They also have really good music from time to time.

This guy, Jayson Belt? He's amazing. I'm in love with this song, so much so that I bought it from iTunes, and added a playlist. I hope you enjoy him too!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Sharing

Gabe is so generous, and kind. Whenever he gets a snack, or a treat, or a piece of gum, (yes, I'm a bad mom. My two year old (hey I'm just getting used to saying two year old...I've got less than two weeks until it's true) chews gum. He's actually really good at it, too.) he always grabs two. He says, "Jay?" Awww. He's so considerate. He's only two, so I don't think it's something that we've taught him. He must just be inherently kind. It seriously warms my heart when he shares with his brother. I just wish his big brother was as kind as he is.

Here are some cute pictures from the last few days.

Tuesday, Gabe was having a rough day. He didn't want me. He only wanted Daddy, and Jay.

Gabe's having a hard day today.  He wants (in order of importance) Jaaaaaaaaay.  And Daaaaaaddy.

That's gotta be the cutest profile, EVER
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The boys got some chocolate at the grocery store, thanks to the $5 Grandma Ann sent! Gabe's wearing his.
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J was being crazy at the mall
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He's being Kevin from Home Alone
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Here are the Valentine's we made for J's class. He helped me sew.
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(check out that line coloring! Awesome Job! (Gabe did most of the scribbles)
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Working hard!

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Gabe was helping...not sure of his expression...
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Return of the curls. (He's not really eating his mousse)
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He picked out pink binks at the store
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Julian with his BFF Oliver
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J before his Valentine's Day Party at school
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Gabba.
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FREE STUFF?

Yeah, I said it! Free stuff! Who doesn't like it? My friend Heather is giving away a GORGEOUS bag on her blog!

Featherty Sews

Check it out! You won't be disappointed! She's brilliant in SO many ways!

Check out this bag. Seriously? Could it be cuter? I think not.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Here's the house!

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Just drove past the house today, while I was taking pictures for school! (Not of houses, just happened to be in the area).

Hope you enjoy!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Three in one day?

Can it be? This will probably give me the excuse not to blog for the rest of the week.

Moving. Why? And Where?

We are moving from a 2 bedroom townhouse, in West Des Moines. We are moving to a 4 bedroom HOUSE in Waukee. Waukee is where Julian goes to preschool and where Gabriel will go next year. We want to have another baby, and a 2 bedroom townhouse? No thank you! We have been cursing the Iowa winter, and will, thankfully, have a garage.

We found out in January that we will be in Des Moines for the next 2 school years. Barry will be doing rotations in Central Iowa, which means pretty much anywhere in Iowa, and across the nation, if he can't get a rotation set up here. We wanted to move into the school district we want Julian to start kindergarten in, thus Waukee. Our lease at Maple Grove isn't up until June, but we're breaking our lease and moving to this wonderful house. It was honestly like an answered prayer. Exactly in our price range, exactly the right location, and exactly the right features that we MUST have, and some!

I will post some pictures of the house once we get into it. We will get the keys on the 26th. The one bad thing? Ugly carpet. But I can't complain about ugly carpet when I have a house!

Moving

I know. Two posts in one day. I'm losing it.

We are moving on the 27th. If you will be in the area, have big strong muscles (or not, like me) and you want to help us move, leave me a comment on this post. We're going to order pizza, and have some drinks, and you can see the hideous carpet we're moving in to. I know, sounds exciting right?

We also are postponing the boys' birthday party. I'd initially rented the club house on the 27th, but since we're moving that day, the boys' birthday party will have to be AFTER We get back from Washington, so late March or early April. Is that bad? To have a birthday party a month after your kids' birthday? Ugh!

The Science Center...with FRIENDS!

Last Tuesday, after school, Julian, Gabriel and I stopped by the Palmer's. We were going to the science center, to use our sparkling new membership card. The boys have been begging to go back since we initially went and signed up. I needed to go back and take a picture of the pendulum again for school.

Julian was SO incredibly excited to show Natalie and Scott all of the SCIENCE. First? The creature room.
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(There was a very active snake...I stayed far away.)
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So there's a sign that says something like do not play ON the display...whoops!
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My boys were attempting a newscast, however Scott didn't like seeing them on the telly!
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The 3 cute boys playing trains!
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This part was Scott's favorite, the ball thing where you put balls in, and it goes around to different tubes and the balls end up in different places
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Natalie, here, is trying to pack up an egg, to put on the egg drop. She was serious, even quoting Full House as she did it.
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The Parachute-for the most aerodynamic egg drop possible
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Sad. (Mine splatted too)
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The awesome prickly wall (as Julian calls it) and the mom's being FUNNY!
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Cheeky Julian
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Scott and Gabe...
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We had such a fun time at the science center, thank you so much for coming!